SV: Germans and klezmer

[Helena Hansson <helena...>]

Hi all,
just wanted to point out that the Scandinavian countries should not be included 
in the countries "where they know German" (even if Swedish people are used to 
being confused with he Swiss!). Of course the Scandinavian languages are 
Germanic languages (as is English), but that doesn't mean that the Swedish (or 
Danish or Norwegians) understand German or know how to pronounce German. Most 
people don't, actually. And very few kids take German in school here these 
days. 

In fact, I think that some Scandinavian Yiddish singers use a rather heavy 
American Yiddish accent (maybe 
because they want to distinguish themselves from the Germans?).

BTW, did you know that Sweden is the only country in Europe that has more 
Yiddish speakers today than before WWII? Also, Yiddish got the "official 
minority language" status in Sweden recently, which means that the language 
will be supported in all kinds of way by the government!
/Helena

----- 

> 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
> 
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org 
> ---------------------+
>