Re: Sabbath in Paradise (fwd)

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of 
<Pine(dot)GSO(dot)3(dot)96(dot)981118170851(dot)21433B-100000 (at) 
email2(dot)asu(dot)edu>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> 
> 
> 
> 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.
> 
> .  It seems to me that the following announcements of Minneapolis performances
might contribute, perhaps obliquely, to this thread:

Friday, November 27, 8 pm, Temple Israel, 2324 Emerson Avenue Soutn, Minneapolis
(377-8608):  The premiere of African Shabbat, for vocal soloists, jazz 
improvisers, chorus, and African percussion, by Alex Lubet and Sowah Mensah.  
Featuring Cantor Barry Abelson, Temple Israel Choir (Debbie Winston, Director), 
Sankofah (Sowah Mensah, Director), and members of Blended Cultures Orchestra 
(Alex Lubet, Director).  Sowah (a master drummer from Ghana) and I (a Jewish 
musician from Chicago) began this setting of the Erev Shabbat liturgy in 1987 
and are putting the finishing touches on it in the final rehearsals.  It's been 
a real labor of love.  I think that melodically and, of course, textually, it's 
very Jewish.  Rhythmically, texturally, and formally, it's very African and 
occasionally African-American.  The mixture of performing forces is a good 
example of tikkun olam.  If you're in the vicinity, please think about coming to
check us out.

Tuesday, December 8, 7:30 pm, Temple Israel (see above).  Annual Temple Israel 
Chanukah concert, featuring Blended Cultures Orchestra.  Excerpts from African 
Shabbat (see above), and music that celebrates African-Jewish collaboration, in 
honor fo the freedom struggles of two great peoples.  Works by Dylan/Hendrix, 
Lieber & Stoller/Big Mama Thornton, 'Go Down, Moses,' "Ani Maamin' in the style 
of John Lee Hooker, and Chanukah favorites as you've heard them.  Free 
admission.  Be there or be somewhere else.

Chappy Chanukah,

 


Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
100 Ferguson Hall 
Minneapolis, MN 55455 
(612) 624-7840
(612) 626-2200 (FAX)