Re: schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

It's not necessarily a question of compromising on notes or repertoire but 
of the requirements of effective _presentation_--of communicating with and 
educating an audience, as one of us said--which is a very different thing, 
and which every performer or performers should be willing to learn, and 
master.


>From: Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis (at) brandeis(dot)edu>
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics
>Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 11:23:47 -0400
>
>Bert:
>I HOPE the Klezmatics won't compromise one note.
>Judy.
>At 08:33 AM 7/20/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >      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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