Jewish Music terminology

[Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

Josh:
Of course I do make distinctions between Yiddish folk music with text and
Jewish instrumental, but also Yiddish art music.(vocal with instrumental
acc.) 

In terms of cataloguing and defining, the various dance terms may give rise
and opportunity in the future for more specific terms to be used as
umbrella or  broader-meaning. This has been known to happen in the past, as
you know.

However, I imagine, in the ubiquitous American way, that combinatorial
terms such as "klezjazz" or "klezblues" will take hold. 

Musically however, BOW is already gone to that next step you've described
beyond the established mainstream. Alan is quite right that there is more
to their (BOW) music than the stricter definitions of "klezmer," most
especially in that they attempt to define new formal schemes and
structures. Very exciting to look forward to what else will be coming
up..... As with much other music in the past, structure and form may yet
wind up as the root for defining terminology, not "sound style"....(but
that remains an interesting proposition for the future)

I think there will be quite a bit of discussion about cataloguing and new
terms of Jewish Music at the London Conference. Are you planning to attend?
It may be very useful if you could come.
Judy

At 11:22 AM 12/31/99 +0100, you wrote:
>
. A search is made for a new term
>to label the music, which will set them apart from the newly established
>mainstream with which they no longer identify, and so they make a new
>sub-label (see below "New Jewish Music", or "Radical Jewish Culture")
>which will inevitably still fall under the umbrella term of of the old
>label, only to be considered a 
>sub-label of it. It's usually hoped that this sub-label will become a
>new genre in and of itself, yet this is only possible when the new
>sub-label term undergoes the same process as the original label did,
>which means that it will end up exactly in the same place where it
>began, defeating its own purpose, but perhaps enjoying a heyday, which
>is felt as being at its peak precisely at the moment that it's imitators
>emerge and are noticed as much as the "originators." To name something
>is a very powerful thing to do. As soon as you name something, it is
>released into the domain of the public, and you no longer have control
>over its usage anymore. Josh
>************************************************************************ 
>> When Brave Old World released Blood Oranges in 1997, we were in agreement
>> that a scholarly consensus was developing to adopt a narrow definition
of the
>> term "klezmer," including Yiddish instrumental repertoire but excluding
folk
>> song, for example. We also agreed that there were good reasons to adopt
that
>> usage. When we then considered our own repertoire, it was clear that it was
>> broader than klezmer music, understood in this narrow sense. For that
reason
>> we left the term "klezmer music" off the cover and instead plastered the
term
>> "New Jewish Music" all over the place. (The graphic is even of a label,
meant
>> to be a semi-ironic comment on the function of musical labels). That term
>> seems to have caught on in some places, judging from the titles of some
>> current radio shows, conferences, etc.
>> 
>> I recommend the term "New Jewish Music" as one which can include both
>> instrumental and vocal, compositions and arrangements, of Ashkenazi and
other
>> Jewish traditions. To me it seems less polemical than a term like "radical
>> Jewish culture," not the least because today's radical is often tomorrow's
>> traditional.
>> 
>> Alan Bern
>> 
>
>
>

Judith S. Pinnolis
Reference Librarian,
Coordinator for Publications and Training
Brandeis University Libraries
P.O Box 9110  MS045
415 South Street                                
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
phone:781-736-4705
fax: 781-736-4719
email: pinnolis (at) brandeis(dot)edu

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