Re: Buena Vista Social Club

[Gerben Zaagsma <gerbn...>]

A small reaction on this one, it prompted some thoughts;

>The modern world of classical music (still the first world) turns
>its nose up at the recognizable use of folk material nowadays, but the
>second world of music, namely the pop world, has taken on the
>responsibility of making consummable the folk music of the planet. In
>some cases, the old-fashioned first world (i.e Perlman, who can't be
>considered avante garde by any standards; and the Kronos Quartet, which
>represent the popular side of the modern classical world) still pretends
>to interact with their *source of inspiration*, in Perlman's case, with
>actual influence on his own playing.

I get the feeling that klezmer audiences are more and more judging a
performance on (first world) standards of classical music, i.e. artistic
level of playing and sophistication. This is purely based on what I've seen
in my town (that beautiful city called Groningen in the north of the
Netherlands). The average klezmer audience here seems to judge a concert on
the level of virtuoso playing displayed, a group like Brave Old World is
very popular. The thing is also that groups like BOW have created a certain
expectation about what "klezmer" is in terms of approach and artistic level
(and the mere fact "klezmer" is being staged in classical concert halls and
theatres alone creates this expectation of course).

I remember a Budowitz concert here which made this quite clear to me (but
maybe Josh can comment on that also): I felt the audience had expected a
more sophisticated sort of playing like BOW and had trouble with the more
raw and folky Budowitz approach. The whole case was illustrated very
clearly in a double concert with the duo Kurt Bjorling/ Kalman Balogh and
the Ukrainian Brass Band from Vinnitsa (Doyres track 15): quite a contrast
indeed. The audience admired Krut & Kalman but could hardly prevent an
outburst of laughter when the Ukrainians played. They were staged as some
sort of musicological interesting act, a non-jewish band still playing
jewish melodies, and are a simple village orchestra (not meant derogatory)
indeed; clearly this was not what the audience wanted. Although it was
clear this band belongs in a more natural setting, a party or wedding or
whatever, nevertheless the way the public reacted to them showed the lack
of understanding where the music originally comes from> its FOLK music by
origin. The dedain for the Vinnitsa band was annoying somehow..

So much for my few uncrystallized cents..
Gerben





--------------------------

Gerben Zaagsma
Koninginnelaan 35
9717 BN  Groningen
The Netherlands
tel.: 0031-(0)50-3131304


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