Re: Rivers of Babylon

[Moshe Berlin <berlim...>]

Owen Davidson wrote:

> Delicately now: out on the limb...
>
> Have you considered what a marvelous song of spiritual longing and
> dedication
> this is?  It takes the text of Psalm 137: "By the Rivers of Babylon,"
> and, in
> true Rastafarian fashion, picks and chooses carefully the sentiments
> it will
> evoke.
>
> "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we
> remembered
> Zion.
>
> ("We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.)
>
> "For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song;
> (and they
> that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying] Sing us one of the
> songs of
> Zion.
>
> "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
>
> And here the song leaves behind the Romany-style self-malediction ("If
> I
> forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [her] cunning, If I
> do not
> remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I
> prefer not
> Jerusalem above my chief joy.")

I THINK THAT WITHIN THIS SONG (PSALM 137) THERE IS THE ESSENCE OF THE
KLEZMER CULTURE.
THE KLEZMER WAY OF USING MUSIC IS ROOTED IN THE REMEMBRANCE OF ZION AND
JERUSALEM.
THIS FACT CAN GIVE US (AT LEAST TO ME) THE RIGHT ANSWER TO THE
DEFINITION OF A KLEZMER.

SHABAT SHALOM

MOSHE BERLIN