African and African-American Music

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Alex:

Sounds exciting.  Sorry that I'll be somewhere else.  (Boca Raton.  The last
time down there we went to the Reform temple for Purim and knew about a
dozen people who were there for a bar mitzvah.  That's Jewish geography.
It's always fascinating to me to hear the kinds of music made in  synagogues
of different denominations in different places. )

Please tell us if you make a recording of your concert for distribution.
Off the top of my head, I can't think of recordings of sub-Saharan African
influenced music of Jewish interest beyond the Ethiopian and Ugandan "Jews"
and some music from South Africa and Ghana based on Hebrew Scriptures.   Any
other ideas out there?

As to the African-American: Jewish nexus, I'm sure that Wolf will be
particularly interested.

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex J. Lubet <lubet001 (at) maroon(dot)tc(dot)umn(dot)edu>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 10:56 PM
Subject: Re: Sabbath in Paradise (fwd)


>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)
>