Re: Music in Jewish brothels

[Heiko Lehmann <hklehmann...>]

In his play "God in Paris" Michael Wex sends the main character, poet Kalman
Holzhacker, to a brothel in Paris to write short plays to entertain noble
Parisian customers (second decade of the twentieth century); one play is
mentioned:

"The most popular was called Auto-Emancipation, or The Jewish Robinson
Crusoe; the whore playing Crusoe, bereft of all signs of her Jewishness,
finally looks down to her circumcision--represented by a shaved pubic
area--and remembers that God, if no one else, is still with her; when she
encounters the whore playing Friday, a theological discussion ensues,
centering on the position of the Jews in goles, in the exile, and ending
with Friday's request to be circumcised, too...They auctioned off the
honour." (Copyright by Michael Wex)

Of course this is fictitious, as well as the Holzhacker character, but there
might be a historical background -- Jewish music in brothels?

Heiko.

www.sukke.de
www.sukke.de/Golus


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD (at) flint(dot)umich(dot)edu>
An: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 28. September 2000 20:53
Betreff: Music in Jewish brothels


> Has anyone done any research into Jewish-run houses of ill-repute,
> especially in places like London and Amsterdam, in the 17th and
> 18th century? Or, for that matter, in Germany or Eastern Europe?
>
> In researching dulcimer history, I've found some tantalizing bits
> of information which suggests that Jewish musicians played in taverns
> in London and Dublin that were somewhat associated with prostitution.
> For example, a German-born Jew, Isaac Isaacs (d. 1791), played in
> taverns in Dublin and was under contract to play weekly for a
> wealthy Dublin madam as she rode in her carriage to the races, etc.
> In a book on Covent Garden, there was a reference to at least one
> Jewish-run whorehouse or tavern in the early 18th century.
>
> It's well known, of course, that there used to be a lot of music in
> brothels (we all know where jazz started). My father had a job in the
> '30s playing piano accompanying the operatic voice of a West Indian
> "whoremaster" in New York City, and I've talked to American Gypsies
> who played in them in the '30s. Also, Gypsies played in Bucharest
> houses of prostitution before World War II. So what about klezmorim
> or letsonim in Central Europe?
>
> Paul Gifford
>
>



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