Re: Correction

[Rachel Heckert <heckertkrs...>]

Hi all,

To comment on the comments to my earlier post:

Jordan Hirsch wrote:

>One thing that Rochel Sarah failed to point out, was that David Sears, 
the author of >the aforementioned article, is also affiliated with Andy 
Statman, as a manager of >some sort. So his observations have to be taken
with a grain of salt

I didn't point this out because I didn't know it.  For that matter, I
don't know anything about Andy Statman's position vis-a-vis other members
of the industry.

>as he definitely wrote the article with a certain agenda, even though
many musicians >in the Jewish Music industry harbor the same prejudices. 

Agendas I don't know about, but I do know (having been the editorial
assistant there for a year) that nothing goes into the Jewish Observer
that is not in agreement with the Agudah viewpoint, and Sear's article
was not the first, perhaps possibly the fourth or fifth, article or
letter to the editor remarking on this topic to be published in the last
five years.  This is becoming a much-voiced opinion in yeshivish circles
(Chasidish I can't speak for, not knowing too many people in them).  

This is also my opinion, especially since because I didn't become frum
until after the sixties, I know the lyrics to a lot of the songs, and the
descending chord progression from "Sunshine of Your Love" does not belong
in an Orthodox chaseneh, as the almost-but-not-quite explicit lyrics of
the song are completely out of tune with Orthodox values.  I still listen
to rock in private - Jefferson Airplane, Blood Sweat & Tears, Sly, etc.,
but I'm aware that what I'm listening to represents another space-time
continuum from the yeshivah world, and I would not recommend it to my
teenage yeshivish friends.  There is more to music than words, and I
don't see how, for example, simply changing the words to "Light My Fire"
would affect the generally hedonistic / risk-seeking effect of the music
itself.

Another problem which bothers me is the tendency of "yiddish-rock"
musicians to use  rock melodies without, I am sure, bothering to pay
royalties.  One Purim I walked into a Chasidishe friend's house and heard
the Men at Work tune Down Under on the cassette recorder (complete with
flute solo).  When I asked how she could be playing such a thing for her
children, she was bewildered, since it was "kosher."  Indeed it was,
after a fashion, since the musicians - Neginah, in this case - had simply
stolen the whole song and given it some Hebrew lyrics out of Tanach. 
Even by Jewish law this is illegal (hasa'agas g'vul).  

>It was also evident that he received information from people within the
industry, who
>seemed to definitely have an ax to grind. 

Maybe so, but a lot of people out here in the audience are grinding the
same one.

>Again, I probably agree with many of his points, but it is a mistake to
view Spears >article as entirely objective.

Who's entirely objective?  In any case, the Jewish music industry is
pretty small in comparison with the secular music industry, and if the
pendulum of public opinion is indeed swinging it will probably be more
responsive.

>By the way, Isaac's also makes a killer potatonik.

I'll have to check this one out personally if the place is kosher
(cuisine-wise).

Rochel Sara

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