Re: Germans and Klezmer

[Khupenikes <Khupenikes...>]

Dear Wolf,

thanks for the note. I did not feel offended, but You and I are most 
concerned by this item, no need to say. And I do respect your feelings very 
much. I do indeed understand that you >will no doubt continue to have issues 
regarding the phenomenon of an all-Gentile German klezmer band<. I?m only 
blaming the murderers who are responsible for that.

But still, I think there?s some distinction to be made between German klezmer 
ignoring or not ignoring a Jewish cultural context. And this, sorry again, is 
leading us right back to this film...

You wrote, ironically:
>And Feidman's appearance has, of course, nothing to do with klezmer music.<

That?s exactly the problem!
Feidman?s popular message ?all music is klezmer? forms an all-too-soft 
blanket, covering the very problems of German-Jewish relationship. In a hazy 
gesture of healing, he wrenches klezmer music out of a necessary Jewish 
context. The message of healing, rather than stressing Yidishkayt in klezmer 
music, is indeed the commercially most important cause for his popularity in 
Germany. Klezmer music outside a cultural Jewish context is partly a result 
of Feidman?s policy. Okay, that?s my opinon. 

By the way, in the film he was not functioning as Giora Feidman, or even as a 
 Jewish musician. He was acting as some liberal, all-embracing musical 
super-ego, spreading the message of ?do-what-your-heart-tells-you-to?. So 
don?t blame the poor little clarinet-girls for not knowing about the cultural 
background. Young girls love kitsh, and they love smooth-sounding clarinets. 
This is rather sweet than questionable.
I cannot remember talk about klezmer music in the film, but I would have to 
see it again. You might be right. (This actually doesn?t go with your 
statement >Nowhere in this film are either Jews or Jewish music ever 
mentioned<, but I don?t wanna split hairs. I get the point.) 
The girl in the film was preparing for an audition at a Conservatory, and as 
an act of self-liberation she was also playing this barely Jewish-sounding 
melody, working out Feidman?s message of ?feel the energy?. (Which is, 
standing for itself, actually a very good motto for a musician.)

Feidman influenced a lot of German klezmer bands, but there are musicians 
taking the Jewish context very seriously and are indeed working against the 
image of ?Klezmer music without Jews?. They are not repressing history, and 
they?re not ignoring Jewish culture as a whole. It?s even possible that 
you?ll find more seriously working, anti-kitsh klezmer bands in Germany than 
in other European countries. (Of course, the majority is still fiddling on 
the roof.)
And, by the way, things are slowly, slowly becoming a little better here. The 
long-time reign of the historian Helmut Kohl was not the best time for 
dealing properly with German history.

And, dear American colleagues, klezmer music is not the big deal here, though 
it naturally makes a good headline!
Yes, klezmer music became much more popular, but if you ask people in the 
streets, 39 out of 40 won?t know the term. (And the one person who knows will 
think of Feidman, in the first place.) 
You can probably compare the popularity of klezmer music in Germany to its 
popularity in Holland (where it?s still better known), Switzerland, and 
probably the Scandinavian countries. 

Christian

(By the way, I didn?t like this stupid movie - far too shmaltzy. Too bad I?m 
not a young girl...)

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