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"Exotic" Jewish Music
- From: Ingemar Johansson <hebanon...>
- Subject: "Exotic" Jewish Music
- Date: Tue 28 Sep 1999 08.00 (GMT)
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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