Re: Germans and klezmer

[Sofia V. Shneider <soph...>]

Kame'a Media wrote:
> 
> 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.

"Believe, believe, love, love" - our Dagestanian poet Rasul Gamzatov
wrote these versions about a song in performing of Iranian woman-singer
Gugush, although he doesn't understand Persian language. He understood
her feeling, how did she express it in the song. And he wrote further in
this poem: "Sing me, Gugush, again!" 
Sophia,
Russia
 
> 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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