Re: klezmers and fusioneers

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

At 10:25 AM 12/10/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Ari: you wrote:
>>As a stand-in for the word "Jewish" I have theorized that it descends from
>the pleasure many of us took in klezmer music, not only for itself, but
>because it provided a bridge to Jewish culture that avoided Zionism and
>religion. 
>>
>>
>And who are these "many of us" other than yourself?--
>Isn't also true than "many of us" (I presume you mean "Jews")... that some
>came to klezmer from _from_ Zionist music and religious music??....One
>could even make a case that not everyone who likes klezmer is "avoiding"
>the same things you are. What evidence is there that "those" who take their
>first cultural steps back toward _any_ aspect of Jewish culture are
>"avoiding" anything --or something in particular as you suggest. Maybe
>they're just exploring "something Jewish" --that they like the sound of--
>that they enjoy-- and that they've had some exposure to. Not everyone _I_
>know chooses or bases their musical tastes on their politics. While I
>_think_ you really mean to indicate that there were some people who were
>essentially secular who could enjoy klezmer but not "orthodox"  or
>"synagogue" music, that doesn't necessarily mean that those same secular
>people are also anti-Zionist or anti-Israel.

Absolutely true.

That's why I said "many", not "most". As the discussion that preceded
that statement revealed, there is no single box here.

But there were both many people I met in the political circles I inhabit
who described it this way, and many musicians I've talked with since
who described having had similar feelings at the time. And I would further
agree with you regarding the first steps--that some of us who were 
attracted to klezmer for its ties to socialism and Yiddish culture
separate from the religion and Zionism of the '50s and '60s changed
as we re-entered the community through this side door. (Arguably, 
some also changed the Jewish community, overall, reawakening awareness 
of the diversity of our grandparents.)

I brought up the issue because I have noticed that the current use of
the word has changed, yet again, for some people on the edge. This 
time, as a stand-in for the word "jewish." Sometimes that is commercial--there 
isa perception that klezmer sells albums, but "Jewish" does not. Sometimes it 
has to do with a person's ambivalence about identifying as Jewish. The latter 
is something sadder.

The connection was made in my own mind from that attitude 20 years ago,
to what I am seeing today, when talking with people at one of the JAM
parties at the Knitting Factory a couple of years ago, and by lesser
experiences previous and subsequent.

And obviously, for all of us, our sense of what is klezmer music or what
is Jewish depends on what we, ourselves, know and experience, NOT what
someone else (myself included) theorizes or reads into that knowledge
or experience second-hand.

ari


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
list owner, jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
the klezmer shack: http://www.klezmershack.com/

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