Re: Germans and Klezmer

[Khupenikes <Khupenikes...>]

Dear list,
I promised Steven Fischbach to answer some of the questions he asked a few 
days ago. Since I can only talk for myself, this will become rather lengthy 
and personal, and thus probably not of interest to everyone. Nonetheless, 
Steve and I decided to keep this dialogue on the list. So if you fear to get 
bored, just skip this posting...



> For those German musicians on the list, I would be interested in what your 
sources of inspiration are, ...<

I am, like most of the German klezmer musicians I know, what you could call a 
"second-generation-revivalist". I was first inspired by the "first 
generation", i.e. American bands I heard in Germany. It started with The 
Klezmorim, KCB, BOW etc. (By the way, I won't talk about the inescapable 
Feidman now, because this is a completely different phenomenon, and --as Josh 
stated before-- would indeed fill a book.)
Though my interest in klezmer music reaches back further, I only started 
playing myself in 1993. (I have a classical background and experienced a lot 
of different styles before.) In 1995, I attended a workshop run by Brave Old 
World, where I also had the chance to meet staff-members Michael Wex, the 
great "late" Henry Sapoznik, Josh Huppert and Beyle Gottesman. Since then, I 
started working much more serious, listened to a lot of 78s, learned to make 
distinctions between different styles.
So I think my sources are quite similar to these of the younger American 
klezmorim.

I stayed in touch with BOW and the incomparable Wex, and throughout the years 
I met other musicians, among them Theo van Tol, Alicia Svigals, Monique 
Lansdorp, Deborah Strauss and Jeff Warschauer, Josh Horowitz, Willy Schwarz, 
Matt Darriau. All these personal contacts have been inspiring to me, and 
besides getting into the older styles by listening, reading, discussion (you 
could probably call me a half-traditionalist), I find personal inspiration a 
most important source for my playing.
And I'm grateful that contacts still grow. In 1999, BOW asked me to 
substitute for Kurt Bjorling on a two weeks tour, and in May 2000 I will play 
and develop the music for Rebecca Taichman's "The People vs. The God of 
Vengeance" as Michael Alpert's collaborator.
Besides that, I'm in touch with a lot of musicians and ethnomusicologists in 
cyberspace (hi, all)... :-)



>...why you choose to perform in the styles you do,...<

I love the music I'm playing. That's all.
Of course, I have to make a living, and I have two lovely and just as much 
hungry kids. Every musician knows these ugly compromises. And, believe it or 
not, I can NOT make a living solely on klezmer music. I'm still earning more 
Deutschmarks with "The Girl from Ipanema" than with my whole klezmer 
repertoire...
As for styles within klezmer music: this is constantly changing and growing. 
I am someone who wants to go deep into a style, and the more I go into 
klezmer music, the more I go back, chronologically. At the same time I'm not 
so much interested in developing authenticity in sound, but rather trying to 
place in our time what I learned by going back. (Sounds strange? Music IS 
strange.)


>...and why you do not (if you do not) attempt to revive the repetorie or 
style of Jewish folk music that was performed in Germany before anyone ever 
heard of Hitler.<

This could fill a book again...
First, if have very few information about German-Jewish folk music. Second, 
I'm an instrumentalist, no singer, and I have the idea that German-Jewish 
music apart from classical and cantorial music is mainly about songs. (I 
might be wrong and will be happy to learn more about it.)
Third, and this leads us right back to the political discussion we had, I 
first heard klezmer music and loved it. I did not look for "anything" Jewish, 
in the sense of "I don't care whether I like it, whether I am able to play it 
or not, the main thing is it's Jewish". That would be rather ignorant and 
impertinent.
But out of my playing klezmer music emerged a broader interest in Jewish 
culture in general, and today "German-Jewish folk music" really starts 
sounding interesting... So don't hesitate to give me any information you have.

Christian

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