"Exotic" Jewish Music

[Ingemar Johansson <hebanon...>]

meydele (at) ix(dot)netcom(dot)com wrote::

> In this day of PC and open, objective musicology is there anything in the 
> Jewish music world
> that qualifies as "exotic"?
>

Newcomers to the list who have noted Wolf Krakowski's fine writings here may 
not be aware of the
exotic flavour of his music.

Thus, his CD "Transmigrations" (Kame'a Media KAM 7001) is like nothing else in 
contemporary Jewish
music. There you'll meet 12 gems of Ashkenazi popular, folk and theater-songs, 
including several
from the Holocaust era, presented in the singer's native Yiddish, the authentic 
southeastern
Polish dialect, rarely heard on recordings. What's so exotic 'bout that? you 
might well ask. The
answer is that Wolf couples his Old World Family Tradition with the 
quintessence of Modern Western
Music in its afro-american form. Make no mistake about it, this man has played 
with the legendary
Mississippi Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams.

The result is a most thrilling fusion, and though "Transmigrations" has met 
with strong praise,
there is also a case where a reviewer  saw "weakness" in it and curiously 
interpreted  the songs
as giving off a wrong or "dangerous" Jewish image.  As if  Jewish manhood some 
how was disgraced
in the Holocaust, because the Jews "lost". The strife about this album speaks 
millions.

No matter what it's commercial status, however, "Transmigrations" is assured 
it's place in musical
history.  It is the "Moondance" (Van Morrison) and "John Wesley Harding" (Bob 
Dylan) of modern
Yiddish music. It's exoticism lays in the arresting yet natural fusion of 
blues-rock-reggae with
Yiddish song.

You'll find more about it at

http://www.kamea.com/
http://home4.swipnet.se/~w-40997/WolfEng.htm
http://worldmusic.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa041798.htm

Best,
Ingemar

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