Re: Old World vs. New World klez

[Lori Cahan-Simon <lsimon...>]

Hi Bert,

Hey, when you know of Cleveland events of possible interest, would you let
us know on the list?  Thanks,
Lori


At 12:11 AM 10/26/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>Q. Was 1920s NYC klezmer so incredibly different than European klez?
>
>I recently heard a Zev Feldman lecture in Cleveland, where Zev made the
>point that  prototypical American klezmer -- what eventually became "the
>bulgars" of the 1950s -- was developed entirely from American cloth -- ie.
>by Tarras and Brandwein in their NYC period. 
> 
>I asked Zev afterward if Brandwein in his 1920s recording wasn't, in fact,
>playing some stuff that was European.  And Zev said that the recorded tunes
>were American klezmer.  Zev said he knew the tunes were American because he
>had played them for a certain elderly NYC Eastern European-immigrant
>klezmer  -- still living, don't recollect his name
>-- who said the tunes were not known in his European community.
>
>I mean, did Brandwein, who immigrated in 1913, just up and junk his entire
>European repertoire and create a whole new thing when he went into the
>recording studio in NYC in 1922? 
>
>I'm aware the Euro tsimbl/violin/flute sensibility didn't go over big in
>the US, particularly in the recording studios.  But wasn't there anything
>like, say, Brandwein's "Heyser Bulgar," (which is also Greek, right?) being
>played by clarinetists in pre-1920 Yiddish Europe?   
>
>Of course there was. There were freylekhs, shers, kolomeykes ... basically,
>a whole set of lively dance tunes in Europe.  And what about the Hasidic
>courts?
>
>To say that New World klez is a thing apart from Old World klez is quite a
>stretch.  It's something I hadn't heard, or read, before. (I'd read Zev
>Feldman's "Ethnomusicology" article on the bulgar and his  liner notes to
>Alicia Svigal's "Fidl" album,  but I'd never before had the impression the
>author was saying there was a complete disconnect between Old World and New
>World.)    
>
>Maybe Henry Sapoznik in his new book, or somebody on this list, will
>address this matter. (Speaking of which, Amazon.com says Henry's klezmer
>book is due out in October.  With six days left in the month, does that
>really mean before Chanukah?  I don't want to see Henry jump, weighted down
>by the latest in XL hooded klezkamp sweat gear, into that hazardous
>chemical vat known as the Klezkamp pool.  So get that book out already,
>Mr./Ms. Publishing House.) 
>
>Bert Stratton
>Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band
>Cleveland
>http://www.yiddishecup.com 
>
>
>
>
Lori Cahan-Simon

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