Re: defining klezmer (and jazz and rock 'n roll)

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

But to relate the terms "jazz" and "rock 'n roll" (I think correctly, in 
both cases) to sexual intercourse is to shed some light on the history, 
roots, and expressive content of both musics--and their origins in, and 
reception, by popular culture--i.e., to *teach* your listeners.  And those 
origins *are* discussed in scholarly and even literate popular histories of 
jazz and rock 'n roll.

To teach the origin of the word "klezmer" (and you have to do that, Itzhik, 
on every CD, just as Mel Allen, olev hashalom--the great New York Yankees 
broadcaster--explained the infield fly rule the first time it came up in 
every ball game--because *someone* listening/reading might not know it) is 
to teach something of its history, and its origins in Jewish religious and 
folk culture.

--Robert Cohen


>From: Huppert23 (at) aol(dot)com
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: defining klezmer
>Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 14:51:50 EST
>
>
>In a message dated 2/20/00 10:45:47 AM, ari (at) ivritype(dot)com writes:
>
><< And it is certainly more useful more often to explain klezmer without
>emphasizing the word's linguistic roots. I mean, how many people can recite
>the linguistic roots of "Jazz" or "pop" (beyond being short for "popular,"
>which is derived from what?).
>  >>
>
>You are making my point here better than I did. Maybe I should have asked 
>you
>to say it for me in the first place.
>
>I think I heard somewhere that "jazz" started out as a sexually explicit
>term--as did "rock and roll." I never hear people defining those musical
>terms by stating their original meanings, though, even though they 
>presumably
>came from English, and not so long ago.
>
>Josh
>
>

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