Re: Germans and Klezmer

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

Khupenikes (at) aol(dot)com wrote:

> What do we really represent?
> To my government I?m German, to church I?m Christian (though I don?t feel
> that way), to my audience I?m a musician.
> And here we could go again: performing classical Western music, I?m a
> classical musician, performing...
>
> When I played with Brave Old World I didn?t hear one single remark on my
> being German and Gentile. I was regarded as a musician, playing with a
> musical group, performing a music which is informed by thousands of different
> musical, human and cultural aspects.
>
> All professional musicians I know are performing more than one musical style,
> and this cultural diversity becomes part of their personalities. Most
> colleagues I know think of music as a way of human expression, as a language
> much richer than the one in our passports. When I?m performing, I try to do
> it in the very first place as a human being, with love, respect and
> understanding.
> So who I am?
>
> Christian
>

Dear Christian:

As stated in an earlier post, I can acknowledge your talent,
and respect you as a human being.
However, given my personal family history and experience,
I (and others with similar backgrounds) will no doubt continue
to have issues regarding the phenomenon of an all-Gentile
 German klezmer band.

Doesn't mean you and I could not hang out together
comfortably, play together or even become friends.

I hope that's clear.

With best wishes,

Wolf Krakowski




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