schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics

[Bert Stratton <yiddcup...>]

         Have you been here? Scenario:
       I'm a volunteer on a Yiddish concert committee for Cleveland's
Workmen's Circle.  I lobby to bring in the Klezmatics.  I persuade the
mostly elderly committee to "go for a younger crowd."
       Good publicity. Audience: 2000.  Free tickets.  Audience turns out
to be the "nostalgia" crowd. Young folks -- and I mean under 60 -- mostly
stay home.  Maybe 20% under 60 -- and I was at the door counting 'em as
they came in.       
        Klezmatics use a jazz-concert model -- minimal explanations(like going
into "Shnirele Perele" without an intro. no explanation of reefer song --
good idea), some very extended improvisations.  Musicians in the audience
-- about 20 of us -- love the music, but the concert is a bomb -- no
request for an encore, very little visible energy from band -- one
musician looked kind of asleep on stage,  a lot of  audience kvetching
afterward about where's "Romania, Romania" and "I don't want to hear
snake-charmer music!"  About 30 people danced in the aisles, but most were
comatose after the three-song "Possessed" medley.
        Afterward, I asked a Klemzatics musician, "How about when you play a
college town, like Ann Arbor?  Same repertoire?"  Band member said the
group isn't playing too many hip college gigs --  band is too expensive.
The hip young-people scene is in Europe, band member said.  In America it's
mostly the "gray-haired" (my words) crowd.
        The crux:  should bands use the elitist jazz model, or go schmaltz -- 
sell
out! pander! juggle! whatever.  I think there's a valid  middle
ground.(Klez Conservatory Band and Perlman's well-paced klez-smorgasbord
come to mind.)
        Saw the Chieftains the last night, same venue.  Great musicianship,
excellent pacing and variety, tons of guest artists, great communication
with audience thru ad lib and self-depracting humor, a dab of schmaltz (did
a "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" parody with disco lights going). Huge
ovation and encore.  Lots of fun.
        There's a lesson here for klez bands. The jazz-model of klez (like when
some of our leading clarinet players play to the bass player instead of the
audience) isn't going to help us expand our appeal beyond the core
"nostalgia" crowd.
        What do you think?      


Bert Stratton
Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band
http://www.yiddishecup.com

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