Germans and klezmer

[Itzik Gottesman <itzik...>]

Wolf - Regarding Germans and Klezmer. I have to disagree with you on this
one. Why interpret the phenomenon as "necrophilia"? Ironic, yes, even
bizarre if you want to push it. But the intentions regarding Jews/Jewish
life and history are good and like klezmer everywhere including the US,
there are excellent/good klezmer groups in Germany and there are groups
that are not so good. It angers me too when a German/Scandinavian/Swiss
group etc. (i.e. from a country where they know German) thinks that yiddish
is German and don't check with a native Yiddish speaker about the
pronunciation. On the other hand, the Yiddish of the klezmer groups from
these countries has improved in recent years, they have done their cultural
literacy homework, and as you know, American groups are very inconsistent
in this regard too. What most of your criticism addresses can be applied to
many of the leading klezmer musicians/groups in the world.- Itzik



-----------------------------------
Dr. Itzik Nakhmen Gottesman
Assistant Professor, Yiddish Language and Culture
Department of Germanic Studies
University of Texas at Austin
EPS 3.102
Austin, TX 78704-1190
NEW PHONE NUMBER (512)232-6360 work
(512)444-3990 home

NEW WEBSITE! http://Yiddishlandrecords.com

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