Re: Klezmer in corporate hands?

[Marvin Margoshes <physchem...>]

How does it become "if it's not censorship, it might as well be" when the
government decreases its support for the arts.  I think there should be some
government support for the arts, but I can't justify making it enough to pay
every artist who asks for a grant.  Then, some choices need to be made, and
"he who pays the piper calls the tune".  That would be more like censorship,
IMHO.
>

-----Original Message-----
From: JeffSchan (at) aol(dot)com <JeffSchan (at) aol(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Thursday, December 31, 1998 3:53 AM
Subject: Klezmer in corporate hands?


>Ingemar Johansson wrote:
>
>> Dear list-members,
>>
>> An American friend of mine sent me this, apalled, angered and distressed
by
>> recent developments in the US. The reason why I forward this bitter
>> statement to the list is that he included some words about Jewish Music.
>>
>> > US remains the country with more people held in jail than any police
>> > state in the world. The criminalization of Black and Latino youth
>> > continues unabated. The death penalty has become an acceptable
>> > "liberal" position. There is an escalating war on immigrants, with
raids,
>> > concentration camps, and militarized borders. The actual ability of
women
>> > to obtain abortion is methodically stripped away through gangster
action,
>> > parental consent, waiting periods, and the denial of government
funding.
>> There
>> > is no foreign military venture of the Bush-Reagan years to which
Clinton
>> has
>> > not wholeheartedly subscribed. The openly racist, misogynist,
homophobic
>> > and murderous Christian-fundamentalist demands for "family values" and
>> > preparation for Armageddon continue to fester in growing organized
>> > networks. The censorship of music and culture has passed directly into
>> > corporate hands. This goes for rebel culture and odd music, too - like
>> Jazz
>> > and Klezmer, both of which you're very fond, I know.
>>
>> Any comments?
>>
>> Ingemar J.
>
>Ingemar:
>
>Of course this depends on your political point of view.  In general, I
agree
>whole-heartedly (more about "censorship" below), except for the hyperbole
>about concentration camps (as far as I know there haven't been any of those
in
>the US since the Japanese-American internment camps in WWII).  I have been
>involved in the struggle to free death row political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal
>for over a decade now (long before the liberals got on the bandwagon), and
>views on the death penalty keep moving to the right.  And it's not just the
>fundamentalist Christians.  For example, New York's Cardinal John O'Connor
>threatened to excommunicate former New York governor Mario Cuomo because he
>supported the right to abortion.  The Catholic Church is opposed to capital
>punishment too, but you never hear the good Cardinal threaten to
excommunicate
>any of his flock who support the death penalty.  And to continue, it's not
>just the Christians.  A number of years ago, the late Lubavitcher rebbe was
>asked by his followers for guidance on which political candidates to vote
for.
>He answered that Lubavitchers were free to vote for any candidate who met 3
>criteria:  1) opposing abortion rights, 2) opposing gay rights, 3) opposing
>pornography.  I was quite taken aback by this statement, particularly since
>this would leave Lubavitchers the option to vote for any candidate of the
>American Nazi Party or the Ku Klux Klan.
>
>As for "censorship," this is a tricky question in the US, for cultural
control
>of the arts is more economic than legal, which is what I understand the
term
>"censorship" to be.  Many of the more alternative forms of music in the US
>relied upon government support through the 60's and 70's.  That support has
>almost entirely dried up.  Those types of music which are commercially
viable
>outside that support have continued.  Example:  New York's World Music
>Institute began as part of the new music/world music series at The
Alternative
>Museum.  It grew and flourished with funding from the National Endowment
for
>the Arts (NEA), state agencies, etc.  It grew to be too big for the
>Alternative Museum, and they created the World Music Institute, which now
has
>a multi-million dollar budget and is much less dependent on government
funding
>(which it still does receive).  The Alternative Museum continued with a
>primarily new music series, one which I ran for a season, and my wife for
2.
>There used to be dozens of similar artist-run and artist programmed series
>like that, ones in which to a greater or lesser extent musicians were
>guaranteed a decent fee.  However, in the 80's, with the furor over
>Mapplethorpe and other controversial artists, the NEA cut off funding to
many
>of the more cutting edge institutions, and other government agencies
followed
>suit.  Today, the Alternative Museum no longer has a music program, and
there
>are only a handful of artist-run alternative music spaces left in New York
>City.  So the scene has become much more driven by "cut of the door" type
club
>gigs, especially ones where you have to deal with scummy club owners like
the
>folks at the Knitting Factory.  Luckily for klezmer, it now seems to have
>reached a critical mass where it is supported by enough of an audience to
be
>commercially viable.  And the straight-laced jazz of the Wynton Marsalis
>school certainly has plenty of corporate backing these days.  So is this
>censorship?  Perhaps not.  But when my friend and mentor Leroy Jenkins, one
of
>the greatest living composers in the US (IMHO), someone who has played in
most
>of the main jazz clubs in the world, and has also had an opera performed at
>the New York City Opera, calls me up and complains about how tough things
are
>these days, I figure if it's not censorship, it might as well be.
>
>Jeffrey Schanzer
>
>