Re: Julio Inglesias Jewish?

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

At 7:48 PM -0000 7/7/99, Owen Davidson wrote:
>Interesting, the lengths to which we will stretch our aesthetic values for the
>sake of cultural identity.  A friend of mine (and fellow
>instrument-builder) who
>is both Jewish and Puerto Rican lamented that Jewish music was so-o-o
>hopelessly
>square, and cited as his reference singing Dayyenu at sleep-away camp.  He
>also
>snorted at my collection of balalaika/bouzouki/tamburitza music:  "You really
>like those mindless plinky-plink melodies, don't you."  Now, every time I
>visit
>his shop, he has some AMAZING new cuatro virtuoso to tout (he's writing a
>history of the Puerto-Rican cuatro), and I am hard put not to fire his own
>"mindless plinky-plink" remark back to him.  Nu?
>

Another member of the band Owen's friend belonged to, a South American,
once showed up at one of our concerts and said to me afterwards, "I came to
your concert because as part of this job I have, I was assigned to escort a
group of participants in a Central American educational exchange program.
I was thinking that this is something I'd never do on my own, because,
after all, Jewish music couldn't be very interesting.  But, your music is
wonderful, and all the people in my group loved it and loved dancing to it.
The only reason more people come to Latin American concerts than to yours
is that people have this prejudice about Jewish music.  They haven't heard
it, but they think it couldn't be very interesting."

That prejudice is held by Jews as well as non-Jews.

Zayt gezunt (be healthy),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
413-624-3204
http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn


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