Re: Klezmer in corporate hands?

[Marvin Margoshes <physchem...>]

-----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: Friday, January 01, 1999 8:47 AM
Subject: Re: Klezmer in corporate hands?


>Marvin Margoshes wrote:
>
><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.>
>
>What is the result of artistic censorship?  That the artist is not allowed
to
>bring his work to the public.  If an artist can't make a living at his art
and
>has to do something else to survive, he is also not able to bring his work
to
>the public, which is the same result.  I myself objected to the use of the
>term "censorship" in Ingemar's friend's statement.  However, the NEA and
other
>institutions have made clearly political decisions to support institutions
who
>produce the "safe" work of primarily dead European artists as opposed to
>institutions who produce the work of living American artists.  The US
>Government's support for the arts is perhaps the least of any
industrialized
>nation.  The point is, in American capitalism, you have kids who barely
know
>how to play their instruments making enormous amounts of money (mainly
>immitating African-American musical styles) because the big corporate media
>companies can make lots of profit from them, while a great black composer
like
>Leroy Jenkins is still struggling after thirty years of prominence.  And,
to
>bolster my views that Leroy is one of the greatest living composers in the
US,
>please see _Village Voice_ critic Kyle Gann's new book "American Music in
the
>Twentieth Century."  (OK, I know I am a bit biased since Kyle also gave my
>wife, Bernadette Speach, a nice section in his book)
<snip>

Tjank you for making my point.  He who pays the piper calls the tune.