more meaningful discussion of jewish music

[tanya kalmanovitch <stump...>]

Reyzl wrote:

> Assuming that he is really Jewish (as opposed to having a little Jewish
> blood in him), what is interesting to me in all of this is that here we
> have another Jew who aims for the best of the popular music of his country,

Remember that major label releases are commercial products: as such, they have
little to do with 'music'. Trends are grown and groomed carefully in order to
increase turnover in sales. When a young singer (let's say Mariah Carey) sets
out to become a pop diva, I'd wager that the last thing on her mind is
choosing music that reflects her heritage. In fact, I'm fairly certain she
doesn't select the music she records. Songs are purchased by representative of
her label, selected carefully for a "hit" sound (and in that way, supporting
the last practitioners of the great, but dying craft of song writing, many of
whom are Jewish).

Much as I love pop culture, it is endlessly self-referential and a deeper
analysis is frequently mislaid. In fact the label "pop music" is misapplied to
today's best-selling albums. Only a handful of name artists still write &
perform in the pop vein, Elvis Costello being one of the greatest (pretty sure
he's not Jewish).


> I am annoyed at the fact that most Jews have lost connection to their own 
> music, except for things like
> Fiddler on the Roof, and what they choose to sing when they want to sing is 
> Black music.   I think they 
> make these choices because that is what is considered the "cool"est and 
> that's what's on the radio. This 
> is also what Jews from Reform to Conservative to modern Orthodox choose to 
> play at their rites of passage 
> celebration.   

Considering pop music as a powerful commercial commodity (one which so aptly
captures time & place), it makes a certain amount of sense that Jews (and
younger Jews in particular) would select popular music for their rites of
passage. It's really no different from young folk wanting to watch the hot TV
show of the moment, regardless of the cultural values embodied therein: it's
been marketed directly to them, with much the same results as their parents'
purchases of Land Rovers four years ago.

Kids have always wanted to escape their parents' selection of music, clothing,
etc., only to return to their parent's tastes later in years. But in a special
celebration integral to a young person's spiritual journey, I'd opine it
should fall in large part to the elders in their families and communities to
determine what measure of traditional cultural expression befits a celebration
of their children's' emergence into adult Jewish life (IMO this entails a lot
more traditional Jewish music, and a lot less Puff Daddy). But then I'm
getting into a parenting discussion, which is a whole other list.


Wolf wrote:

> I don't think "close enough for jazz" is either a valid or an accurate 
> statement. The implication is that 
> jazz is some sort of sloppy, half-ass music.  One  must be a very good and 
> well-versed player to improvise > creatively, no?

(Laughing...) During my brief tenure with the Turtle Island String Quartet
(jazz-crossover string quartet, used to be quite popular with the NPR crowd,
Jewishness of members unknown), the boys used to quip "close enough for
classical". Used to bring the house down.


Dick wrote:

> Can we talk about something more meaningful?

OK. You first.


Bob Fogel wrote:

> However to hear this inane jingoistic false pride BS go on and on ...suggests 
> either there is not that much > going on within the jewish musical world(not  
> true) or a few writers have their neeedle stuck in a groove 
> and need a prompt to get on with it!

Ibid.



Best,

Tanya Kalmanovitch

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+