re:klez go classical, listening, dance etc.

[Matt Jaffey <mjaffey2...>]

Daniel,

you wrote:
>sure.  but as i said, you'll have a hard time persuading me that such a 
>thing as a "listening genre" of klezmer emerged before the music had been 
>_outside_ the wedding context for a while.

I heard another opinion expressed by the enthnomusicologist Zev Feldman at
KlezKanada last summer. Ari took notes that he has posted on his website:

http://klezmershack.com/articles/klezkanada99/17.feldman.html

Here's an excerpt:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Walter Zev Feldman

[These notes were taken during the talk, which will be available in a
forthcoming book. ari]
...
[Feldman plays several pre-WWI recordings, introspective virtuosic
forms...Note that almost none of these are dance music. Virtually no
surviving klez recordings from that period feature dance music.]

Even Belf had only a limited repertoire of dance music. Yet, virtually all
Tarras and Brandwein music are dance music. But the professional musicians
in Poland and elsewhere defined themselves through virtuouso renditions of
artistic music. In America, the klezmorim defined themselves through the
virtuosity of their dance records...

Very little of that old world repertoire survived in America; primarily
dance music only.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the liner notes to the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble's "Sweet Home Bukovina"
album, Zev Feldman discussed this same point, explaining why it happened
that only the dance music survived in America.

By the way, I think this CKE album and Joshua Horowitz's "Bessarabian
symphony" (with Joel Rubin), are both excellent examples of music that can
provide worthwhile sit and listen experiences (in the classical art music
sense). I listen to these all the time.

Daniel, I wouldn't be so quick to judge other people's aesthetic experiences
(e.g. in the classical concert hall). All people are not built alike. I
liked your description of why dancing to music is a turn on for you. But
just because your mind may tend to wander during a sit-in-your-seat concert
doesn't mean that others may not have sublime experiences that keep on
bringing them back for more.

On another point, having brought up CD's, this presents a context which
hasn't been discussed yet. Through the ready availability of quality
recordings, I suspect that we get to hear substantially more klezmer music
in a few years than any non-musician ever got to hear in pre-WWII europe. I
wonder, if we could add up total listening hours in today's concert halls,
clubs etc. etc. if that would get anywhere near to the total amount of time
people spend listening to klezmer recordings?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would also like to make some comments about dance.

I'm curious what kind of dancing you do at a klezmer event.

I'm an avid folkdancer, and I am aware that there is a very active,
committed folkdance community in North America. However, it is actually
pretty small compared to the numbers of people who go to classical, folk, or
any other kind of musical concerts or events. Within the folkdance
community, the teaching of the dances that eastern european jews did to what
we call klezmer music, represents a tiny fraction of all the folkdancing
that's going on. 

The same point could be made about how much of this is taught in the klezmer
world. OK, so a few hundred people go to Klezkamp once a year.

I therefore think it is quite likely that most people who dance at klezmer
events are not really doing anything like keeping close to the cultural
roots of klezmer. What I have seen is a lot of bobbing up and down, or
moving around in lines using no particular dance steps, or using some
israeli steps - even when there was someone at the front of the line like
Michael Alpert who knew what he was doing.

Now, if you are talking about dancing to fusion music - then the dance may
have more to do with modern american popular culture than with the roots of
klezmer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, I'd like to say that I don't think there is much value in making
pronouncements to this list about the dangers of overemphasizing klezmer
concerts over other venues. Leaving aside the issues of accessibility that
Josh Horowitz has brought up, musicians will do what they want to do, and if
they want to concertize and an audience wants to listen, it'll happen. If
they want to play for dances and people want to dance, that'll happen too.

I have to thank you for stimulating an interesting dialogue, even if I don't
agree with you.

Matt

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