Re: Fwd: A new klezmermusical in Berlin

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

Marvin wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Kame'a Media <media (at) kamea(dot)com>
> To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 10:17 AM
> Subject: Re: Fwd: A new klezmermusical in Berlin
>
> > With all due respect, I think you may be confusing "satire" with "parody".
> <snip>
>
> In that case it comes down to what "satire" implies to a native
> German-speaker.  I don't have a good German dictionary, and my
> Langenscheidt's German-English and English-German set dates back to 1912 (I
> inherited it from my grandfather's library), so it isn't helpful.
>
> Webster's 3rd includes the following in its definitions of satire:
> "a branch of literature ridiculing vice or folly"
> "railery used to convey rebuke or criticism"
> "a usu. topical literary composition holding up human or individual vices,
> folly, abuses, or shortcomings to censure by means of ridicule, derision,
> burlesque, irony, or other method ..."
>
> Lori Cahan-Simon asked "I looked at the websites and found something
> unsettling about this.  Anyone else?"  Considering the meaning of the word
> in English, I think there is cause for an unsettling feeling.  Perhaps the
> German meaning is quite different, and perhaps it isn't the right word to
> describe the performance.  I hope so.
>

Marvin and others, I think you hit the nail on the head.  I believe it was the
word "satire" that rubbed me the wrong way.  Why would this group put on a
satire, as opposed to straight theater?  I looked at the faces and the few names
mentioned, and, unless I am very wrong, there don't seem to be many, if any,
Jews amongst the practitioners of this "satire".  Why are the Germans
ridiculing, or any other derisive term from the definitions above, our Jewish
culture, music, humor, and even providing Jewish Food for the event?

>

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