Re: Klezmer is dead

[eliott kahn <elkahn...>]

Folks, take heart. Just make excellent music and you will 
attract  listeners. Consider yourselves fortunate that you live in a time 
when your music could possibly go out and embrace the greater public. As 
misty-eyed as the purists may get for our rich ghetto culture--and it was 
rich--don't ever forget there were settlement, occupational, and even 
clothing restrictions against us. We live in a time of tolerance that in 
Jewish history may only be rivalled by the Golden Age of Spain.

Don't worry about the trends; just make beautiful music.

Eliott Kahn


At 05:00 PM 2/19/00 -0500, you wrote:
>At 04:42 PM 2/18/00 -0500, you wrote:
> >Klez-is-dead evidence:
> >
> >1.Simon said his klezmer records don't sell as well as his Ladino albums.
>
>But they never did. And Simon defines klezmer very narrowly, to boot!
>
> >2.Yesterday, at a Cleveland Jewish bookstore, the owner said to me,
> >"Klezmer and Yiddish are on the way out."
> >
> >4. Henry Sapoznik's terrific klez book came out in Dec., and not a word on
> >it yet in the major print media. (And not much talk about it on this list
> >either, for that matter).
>
>And let's not confuse poor promotion of a lively (and apparently
>already either out of print or generally unavailable) memoir/history
>with anything but poor promotion and/or availability.
>
>What is certainly true, and has been for several years, is that the
>klezmer revival is over. The patient is alive and has grandchildren
>(as I like to see, perhaps too often). But playing klezmer is no longer
>being on the edge or reviving something dying. It is a Jewish music,
>now often played by non-Jews, as well, and for us Jews, it is one
>music among many, and this one, too, we transform as we go.
>
>But, Bert, you're right. I think it's time for us to try something
>new and on the edge. Skiffle anyone?
>
>(Or take a listen to this Italian album I'm listening to at the moment,
>"Heavy Metal Klezmer," which, in its own way, is living up to its name.)
>
>ari
>
>
>Ari Davidow
>ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
>list owner, jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>the klezmer shack: http://www.klezmershack.com/
>

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+