Re: demand for "authentic" ethnic

[Matt Jaffey <mjaffey2...>]

Skip,

I think most people on this list would agree with your beautiful statement
that "each artistic voice has its own authenticity". And it makes sense
wherever we have the ability, to "try to do something better about the world
that can hopefully make our cultural expression shine more."

On the other hand, I can see that you have strong feelings about academics
and elitists. My original question was based strictly on the observation of
a music store owner (Simon) that there was a trend in what kinds of cd's are
selling. I just borrowed his phrase "'authentic' ethnic".

I think you and Simon disagree about what is worth being called "Jewish"
music, and you can argue with him if you want, though I don't think he wants to.

>From a raw, objective buying statistic that Simon mentioned, and other
things that I have observed, I surmised that there is a social phenomenon
that extends way beyond an interest in Jewish music. We hear all the
explanations about why Klezmer is so big now, such as that 2nd generation
Jews wanted to assimilate and forget their "backward" heritage, and now 3rd
generation Jews, feeling the loss of heritage wanted to get back to it, etc.
But if the interest in ethnic music is so much larger than the Jewish
community, then those kinds of explanations won't hold water.

I don't think it is a lot of elitist academics with attitude who are
invading Simon's store. Perhaps its a lot of Eliezer Kaplans (correspondent
on this thread) with a "sincere desire to seek out cool stuff" (his words).
What interests me is what "stuff" people are actually voting for with their
pocketbooks, and I'm curious about why.

Matt

At 02:18 PM 1/7/2000 EST, sh wrote:
>It's not the enthusiasm for an earlier form that I have a problem with, but
rather the attitude that comes with it that "authenticity" automatically
means "reflecting an earlier stage of development within the course of the
style".  And with that comes a provincialism about rustic authenticity
usually espoused by the academe.
>
>I am an enthusiastic advocate of know and embracing any style of music and
of respecting and drawing on/from history.  In fact, I don't have much
respect for art that doesn't have its roots well-fed and intact.  
>
>What I find objectionable is the academic need to do unnatural things to
the organic growth of style and form.  As much distaste as I hold for this
"the more rustic the tone production, the more authentic and therefore
better the music", I hold the same  distaste for the side of the academe
that enforces modern techniques in music that have more to do with math than
to do with making music that moves people.  Both smell elitist to me.
>
>I believe in my heart of hearts that if you care about music, you care
about all of music with equality and not impunity.  You care that its made
sincerely and well, not whether it's made of an Albert or a Boehm clarinet,
nor whether it can claim "serial integrity" or not not, etc.  "Authentic",
to me, is a smokescreen when it becomes an end.  Each artistic voice has its
own authenticity, if the artist speaks truly through it.  Is N.W.A. less
authentic somehow than Robert Johnson? I doubt it.  But if some guys from
Compton in the late 80s try to recreate an era they weren't part of, then
it's a bit less true.  I'm Jewish, and of Austrian ancestry, but for me to
try to recreate the concerns of my ancestry and claim authenticity in doing
so would be absurd.  I can echo some things in the course of my statement --
that's my releationship to my family -- but to try be THAT thing from back
then would be presenting someone else's truth as my lifestyle.
>
>Similarly, when somebody holds up the old stuff and says "this is the
truest stuff" and ends the sentence there (or expounds further upon that in
some sort of thesis) makes for an interesting academic thesis, but has
nothing to do with the real lives that occur in a different time.  Music
continues to live and express.  If the music -- as a product of its world --
is falling short, of what he hope for in music, maybe we should look at the
world that that music is formed by, and try to do something better about the
world that can hopefully make our cultural expression shine more.
>
>sh
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