Re: new Budowitz album, Wedding without a Bride, now out

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

Ari's further reply.
Lorele

Joshua Horowitz wrote:

> -- Budowitz Home Page: http://www.merlinms.dircon.co.uk/budowitz/
>
> > Josh,
> >
> > I didn't mean to imply that Budowitz was doing Khevrisa's material!
> > I'll go back and look at the wording. I did mean to imply common
> > repertoire, and I was aware (and it's stated on my main web page)
> > that Steven had been part of the original Budowitz. That he would
> > continue to play some tunes that he played in the band seems natural,
> > but I'll make sure the website is clear on which preceded the other.
>
> I'm actually happy that new repertoire is getting out there, though. I just
> think that we in this scene need to be more conscientious of our
> indebtedness to each other. There's an unspoken covenent among the klezmer
> collectors in the scene: "Thou shalt not reveal thine most precious
> repertoire to thine colleagues without first making sure they will not
> perform it until thou first record it." Of course that's silly, and one of
> the reasons for the limited repertoire circulating around the scene. How
> many unrecorded precious oytsres are actually being cast into the scene to
> replenish it? But if resources are used and concepts reformed from others,
> this needs to be mentioned.
>
> The repertoire of the new Budowitz CD was based upon a very specific set of
> critereae:
>
> 1) We wanted  as many pieces as possible to come directly from informants
> 2) We wanted pieces which had never been recorded in the klezmer revival
> 3) We wanted the pieces to have been commonly played in the regions of
> Galitsia and Volhynia
> 4) We wanted the pieces to work together to form a logical khasene
> 5) We wanted to include the entire badkhones ritual for both the khosn and
> kale
>
> That's a pretty strict set of restrictions, and we chose from thousands of
> pieces to be able to meet them. In the summer I will be writing about the 3
> years we took to put this project together and posting this on the new
> Budowitz home page, which will be moved to www.budowitz.com in a few weeks.
> We also want to begin a monthly "letters to Budowitz" page, which I hope
> will deal with everything from "Did Klezmorim use contraceptives?" to "What
> did the tantsfirer do when he got a hole in his shoe while dancing the
> sher?" questions. In that way, we want to combine promotion for our work
> with information. Soon we'll be advertising Budocycles in our infomercials
> which will help aging women get rid of cellulite around the thighs while
> erotomanically pedalling to a Gliniany Korohod. And when you're ready to
> install webcam capacities to the list, Ari, we can all watch them do it and
> be charged unwitting amounts to our credit cards. Well, I can fantazise,
> can't I?
>
> >>> My first tsimbl was constructed by a country farmer an hour from
> >>> my house and altered (again and again) to fit the Jewish modes.
> >
> > You mean, this guy? http://www.ivritype.com/eeuro96/austria/it.konrad.jpeg
>
> Actually no. Konrad built my first Guzikov xylophone (Wood and Straw
> Instrument, or Stroy Fidl if you want to use a term which never existed).
> The builder of my first tsimbl was August Zach. I also had one from Hungary
> - a Kis cymbalom (small cymbalom) made by Gabor Frey. Rob Goldberg owns that
> one now.
>
> > Anyway, in case anyone missed it, the big deal is that the album is
> > out, and it's wonderful. And yes, I have criticisms of the typography.
> > But you knew I would ;-).
>
> Of course I knew you would. That's why we had the typography purposely
> botched, so you'd have something to write about.
>
> Well, be well. Josh
>

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