Re: Sabbath in Paradise (fwd)

[Corey Marc Fogel <mecorey...>]

On Wed, 18 Nov 1998, Ari Davidow wrote:

> Yet, clearly, this speaks =Jewishly= to a lot of people. I mean, there
> seem to be a lot of subscribers to this list who regularly scan the 
> Radical Jewish label or JAM for new Jewish releases. What I'm missing
> is how or why that connection works. When I listen to Kletka Red, for
> instance, I can hear some Jewish music strains of music in his guitar,
> but it seems so removed. Even more remote is, say, the band "Silver
> Jews" which seems to have nothing Jewish about it, excepting the name

I think it has to do with the passion and the pain you hear in the music. 
i've only heard one track from Kletka Red, but it sounded like it had the
appropriate edge to it, that makes the notes sing in a certain way. granted
that style of guitar playing is farther removed from traditional instruments
than is alot of other Radical Jewish Music, so its not the best example of
Radical Jewish Music with a very clear point of reference. (?) am i even
making sense? 

I think that good jewish music has a certain passionate behind that you dont
just find everywhere, and...if its there you know, and...if its not...you
still know. like when i was trying out some cds by The Kabbalahs... it was
pretty awful in my opinion. I thought they would be neat. They were
essentially They Might Be Giants, only Klezmerized. the music was funny and
had a certain spirit about it..but the actual playing seemed very uninspired
and didnt speak to me in any way similar to other modern Jewish artists. It
didnt actually speak to me at all. way too cerebral. 

I havent listened to alot of the JAM stuff from the Knitting Factory label,
but most of the Tzadik releases are very passionate and seems extremely
legitimate. not all of them though. For instance, Kramer: Let Me Explain to
You Something About Art...or whatever the title is. its a bunch of choppy
sampled percussion blips with some old recordings of some elder woman babbling
about Jewish traditions and happenings and its really not worth anything at
all. i suppose it could be argued t hat it doesnt pretend to be any kind of
passionate melodic work. and i suppose it does fit under Radical Jewish
Culture. but...it doesnt do anything for me. i guess the Kabbalahs would be
the best example of something that tries to be very musical and jewish and
modern doesnt succeed. most other recordings i encounter, however, do.
especially David Krakauer, John Zorn's Masada, John Zorn's Masada Chamber
ensembles. those are all passionate enough to make me cry at times. i think
that makes it as legitimately Jewish as anything traditional. in my opinion,
if you sense a certain passion or "pain' in a performers playing, which i
would hope would be more universal than subjective, it stands out as sort of
an ambiguous quality/affirmation in regards to what youre debating. 


i dont know if i actually answered anything here...but hopefully. sorry for
babbling.