RE: schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics

[Dick Rosenberg <drosenberg...>]

IMHO, you're innovative as all get out and you do a damn fine job of
doing it, but your music looks forward into the 19th century. I like
some of the phrases Ari used in his review, 

"Take away the bar mitzvah beat of much of modern klezmer, let the
ensemble
swing together, speeding up and slowing down as the melodies change or
the
dancers tire, and familiar-sounding music sounds new again, and the joy
of
dancing without the metronomic quality of a drum machine is impossible
to stop.
Playing on older instruments also seems to add warmth. To hear the
tsimbl, and
old-style button accordions, the three-stringed cello--all fit the music
perfectly,
and make one wonder if we haven't lost something with modern
instrumentation. Best of all, by returning to the 19th century sources,
Budowitz
creates something that is compelling to everyone, previous klezmer fan
or not. It
takes more than good musicians and good research to make good music,
though. There is a chemistry here that works."

To me that's Preservationist. Your mileage may vary.

Dick

>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Joshua Horowitz [SMTP:horowitz (at) styria(dot)com]
>Sent:  Tuesday, July 20, 1999 5:10 PM
>To:    World music from a Jewish slant
>Subject:       Re: schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics
>
>Hi Dick,
>
>I liked your posting, but I can't for the life of me figure out how
>Budowitz got into the preservationists corner. And here I thought we
>were innovators. Josh Horowitz
> 
>> For agruments sake (and I know I will probably get a lot of disagreement
>> on this), some examples of the three would be:
>> 
>> Preservationsists - Budowitz
>> 
>> Entertainers - Klezmer Conservatory Band, Maxwell St.Klezmer Band,
>> Mazeltones
>> 
>> Innovators - Klezmatics, New Orleans Klezmer All Stars, Andy Statman
>> Quartet
>
>Dick
>

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