Re: defining Klezmer (everybody wants to get into the act!)

[apikoyros <apikoyros...>]

Sorry, but I can't let this pass without comment:
It's amazing how some people openly admit their lack of knowledge on 
a topic but don't let this inhibit them from pontificating on it without
the 
least humility.
  
I don't know how Josh Huppert participates in making or enjoying Jewish
music.
If he is a musician, I hope the attitudes toward Yiddish he conveyed
don't color
his playing.  

If he were an American musician trying to learn or perform the music of
another 
ethnic or national  tradition, say West African  or Central Asian, how
long do you
suppose he'd last expressing such contempt for an aspect of the culture
that 
spawned the music?  

"If you wanna sing the blues, it helps to start with some respect for 
African-American experience."  
Lee Friedman 






Josh Huppert wrote:
>Since I speak neither Yiddish nor Hebrew, and I can't read one letter of
that 
>alphabet, I am at a small disadvantage here, but I can't resist the 
>temptation to bring up this subject which has been bugging me for a long
time.

>If Yiddish is a distinct and legitimate language, then we should define
the 
>Yiddish word "klezmer" according to its meaning in Yiddish. BTW,
"klezmer" is 
>now a word in English, too, and the English meaning differs from the
Yiddish 
>meaning.

>In my opinion, defining the Yiddish word by giving Hebrew roots implies
that 
>Yiddish is not really a language, just a dialect of German with a few 
>mispronounced Hebrew words thrown in. It also leads to a lot of
unnecessary 
>confusion about what the word means.

>This relates directly to the recent discussion here about "Israeli
klezmer 
>music." If Israelis think that "klezmer" is just the way us Gringos say
"klei 
>zemer," naturally they can play just about any kind of music and call it

>"klezmer"--it fits the Hebrew definition.

>In fact, I recently met an Israeli-American woman who said "So you are
the 
>klei zemer."
>She is a very nice woman, and her intentions were good. She just didn't 
>realize that "klezmer" and "klei zemer" are different words, in
different 
>languages.

>While I'm at it, a musician from Cleveland, Ohio explained to me last
year 
>the difference between language and a dialect:
>A language is a dialect with an army.


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