Re: Dutch concertgoer klezmer expectations

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

Hi Josh,

>There is another aspect of this expectation though, if I'm allowed to
>speak about it candidly, and I may get lynched on this one...There is a
>general feeling I get in the Netherlands that Jewish culture is first
>and foremost high culture- the cliche of Turn of the Century Jewish
>artistic modernism, Jewish Nobel Prize laureates and the figure of the
>precociousness of Anne Frank floats over our touring van in a huge
>subconscious mono-cultural blimp every time I set foot there, and it's
>not exactly easy to explain that klezmer music didn't have it's origins
>in the ephemeral pastels of a Chagall painting. 

Although not as extreme, I would think that the Dutch klezmer
band, di Goyim does not play a particularly refined form of
music (albeit, their recordings do highlight a sense of fun,
imho). I hear that =something= is happening, I just question
whether it is as simple as high culture vs. low.

ari

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+