Re: Germans and klezmer

[Kame'a Media <media...>]

Itzik Gottesman wrote:

> Wolf - Regarding Germans and Klezmer. I have to disagree with you on this
> one. Why interpret the phenomenon as "necrophilia"?

My dictionary defines "necrophilia" as "fascination with the dead",
not only "erotic activity with the dead", as you are no doubt thinking.

> Ironic, yes, even
> bizarre if you want to push it.

I don't think I'm pushing it .
I know that you and I share a common history, coming from survivor families.
What we don't share is personal experience, world view or temperments.

But the intentions regarding Jews/Jewish

> life and history are good

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions", someone said.

> 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.

Good pronunciation is not enough.  Mimicry is no substitute for linguistic
ability.
If  a singer doesn't know the language, what kind of feeling, nuance, subtlety
or fire
can he/she hope to bring to a lyric, -- let alone transmit to the listener?
I know that in most cases, it doesn't matter, because most of the audience is,

unfortunately, clueless. This is what I  am  hearing from people who run
festivals and venues.

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


My criticism does indeed cut across national lines.
Given that the film under discussion was of German origin,
I  selected the  German  bands for Special Treatment.

Doesn't mean I can't appreciate  musical talent or acknowledge
a common, decent human being, -- even if they should happen to be the
offspring of those who were complicit in the murder of our families,
Itzik kroyn.

An all-Gentile band  selling Jewish music to Jewish audiences
just   plain    bugs    me, "good intentions" or not.

Wolf

PS  In Toronto last Sunday, David Wall sang one of your mother's songs.
The one about crows.

>
>
> -----------------------------------
> 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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