Doinas & taksim

[Peter Rushefsky <rushefsky_p...>]

I'm a bit skeptical of Wolf's statements about the use of doinas by E. European
klezmorim.  It is clear that doinas were part of the European klezmer repertoire
(there are a number of early recorded examples of klezmer doinas from Europe and
the US).  From all the good CD liner notes Josh Horowitz and others have put
together, I understand that doinas are a recent entry into the repertoire
(probably over the last 100 years) & that they replaced the earlier taksim form.
 Both doinas and taksim are free-metered modal explorations, but doinas have a
particular structure of modal/chordal changes that set them apart.  It seems
that the klezmer doina originated from the Romanian doina, which was a musical
allegory of the tale of a shepherd who loses his sheep and then finds them.  I
thought that both taksim and later doinas were played at simkhes as part of a
"tish nign" (dinner table tunes) repertoire, often as the introduction of a
medley:  doina/hora/khosedl.  Would love to get more information from the
experts.  

Kurt Bjorling has put together a book/tape of some extremely accurate (though
difficult) transcriptions of Jewish Doinas.  I wish he had included some more
narrative regarding doina history and structure.   Here's a good page that talks
about the Romanian doinas:

http://archiver.ss.uci.edu/doina/doina2.html

>> "Kame'a Media" <media (at) kamea(dot)com> 07/19/99 09:46am >>>
The "slower, more meditative pieces", however, were certainly not <klezmer >
<simkhe>  tunes -- but most likely <doinas> or <doina>-inspired.
This corresponds to private mail I received, too, where the <doinas> were
incorrectly labelled <klezmer>, which they are not.  No <shtetl> <klezmorim>
ever played a <doina> at a <yidishe simkhe>.

A <doina> is a lullabye for sheep.

Many so-called <klezmer> bands pad out their repertoires with <doinas>.
(That, and the Jewish "Stairway to Heaven", "Bay Mir Bist Du Sheyn").
This has led to a misunderstanding among the public (and even arts programmers
for major Jewish cultural institutions) that <doinas> are <klezmer> music.
They are not.  My original comments referred to the absense of propulsive
sexual rhythms in <klezmer> music.  I never spoke of <doinas> or any other
music that may be in the repertoires of contemporary <klezmer> bands.

A <doina> played on a stage is  audio valium to me, personally,
though I could see how the sheep could enjoy it in a pastoral setting.

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