Re: Jewish "Gypsy" music

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Given your encyclopedic knowledge on this subject, you likely are aware of
the CD from Muzsikás:   Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania,      Hannibal        
HNCD 1373

Perhaps the notes or the group can be some assistance.

Good luck with a very interesting topic! I've found that Sephardim in the
Ottoman empire performed all manner of Turkish and Greek music (as did
Armenians, too.)

Best, 

Jol

At 03:45 PM 7/28/98 EDT, you wrote:
>I'm wondering if anyone on the list knows anything at all about 
>Jewish musicians (Hungarian or American or otherwise, probably 
>mainly, but not exclusively of Hungarian origin) who played Hungarian 
>Gypsy music.  This probably involved wearing a vest and playing the 
>violin at restaurants, weddings, banquets, etc., with a repertoire 
>that would consist of Hungarian popular and operetta songs, 
>csardases, Broadway show tunes, Viennese waltzes, "international" 
>standards, etc.  I posted on this subject several months ago but 
>thought I would try again.
>
>At the turn of the century, the leading Jewish primas in Budapest was 
>Leopold (Poldi) Weiss.  Later on, in New York, Aladar Sio led a 
>Jewish Hungarian group.  Meyer Davis, later a well-known society 
>orchestra leader, started out in this capacity in the teens.  Same 
>for Alexander Haas (he wasn't a Gypsy, but I don't know that he was 
>Jewish).  Emery Deutsch was popular in the '30s.  Joseph Moskowitz 
>played with one Michel in Washington, DC, who owned his own 
>restaurant.  In Detroit there was a violinist, Feher, and a 
>clarinetist, Gabor Zingenlaub, active in the '50s, who sometimes 
>played with Gypsies.  Julius Klein, cimbalom player, was active in 
>Hollywood in the '30s and '40s; another one who went from NYC to LA 
>was Bela (Piroska) Schaeffer, a violinist who may have been Jewish.
>Finally, it seems that Joseph Kun, cimbalom player with Sio, was the 
>son of Laszlo Kun (1869-1939), of Koloszvar (Cluj), who also recorded 
>with Sio and was active as an arranger for cimbalom in the 1890s.
>
>Does anybody on the list happen to know anything about Jewish 
>involvement in this type of music?  What I know mainly comes from 
>Gypsy musicians in Detroit, old records, various casual 
>conversations, my father, etc.  I'd like to know more about the Gypsy 
>musicians who appeared in many movies in the '30s and '40s.
>The Jewishness of the musicians was probably incidental to their 
>music, befitting the post-1848 status of Jews in Hungary, but on the 
>other hand, Jews were involved in the form from the beginning, even 
>before about 1750, when Gypsies began to dominate the form.  Does 
>anyone know someone who has an interest in '30s-'40s Hollywood Gypsy 
>music, or whether Shony Alex Braun has an e-mail address?
>
>Paul Gifford
>
>
>


Joel Bresler
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