German Klezmer

[Steven Fischbach <fischri...>]

The klezmer phenomena is Germany is not easy to explain.  First, you can't
lump all Germans (or all of anyone else, for that matter) and say everyone
has the same motivation for interest in the subject.  I can't buy the
"necrophilia" explanation any more than the "white man playing the blues"
explanation.  Some Germans surely have an interest in Klezmer out of some
kind of misplaced guilt.  Some see identifying with things Jewish as a
statement of cultural rebellion.  Others just like the music, the way that
some of us on this list might like Salsa, Balkan or some other form of
ethnic music.  And, there may be other explanations.  My point is, don't
stereotype an entire people (look what happened when others did that to us!)

If the phenomenon is hard to explain, it is even more difficult for Jews to
accept it uncritically.  While I cannot agree that non-Jews have no right
to sell Jewish music to Jewish audiences, I can criticize those German
klezmer performers who make little or no effort to learn about Jewish
history, language (yiddish, judeo-german, etc), culture, rituals, etc.
And, Jewish studies scholars in Germany (of which there are many) should do
their part in educating the general population about these subjects.  For
example, I have tried to find information about German-Jewish traditional
music from several sources, yet there appears to be very little written on
the subject (there are a handfull of books written in German which I cannot
read).  German klezmer performers should do something to unearth the
indigenous Jewish musical tradition in the way that Josh Horowitz, Judith
Cohen, Bob Cohen (from Di Naye Kapelye) and others have done in other parts
of the Jewish world.

As for good intentions, that too is subject to debate.  Klez is popular in
Germany, and some in the scene are probably into it for the money (although
no one is going to become a millionaire playing Klez in Germany).  And,
good intentions only go so far.  There can be good intentions expressed by
gentile German klez performers absent the respect owed to the destroyed
culture (demonstrated by study of things Jewish as mentioned above).

Thought I would just add my two pfennigs to the discussion.



 

Steven Fischbach
Providence, Rhode Island  USA
fischri (at) gis(dot)net

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