Re: Polish klezmer statuettes

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of <11FA5BBC6688 (at) flint(dot)umich(dot)edu>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> 
> 
> Does anyone know how long they have been making those wooden 
> statuettes of klezmorim in Poland? I saw a couple of guys in
> the Old City in Warsaw selling wooden statuettes of various
> subjects, usually caricatures of some sort. But they had sets
> of klezmorim, playing violin, clarinet, flute, cymbaly, bass, drum, 
> which seem realistic from an instrumentation point of view, and I
> wonder how long they have been making them and selling them to 
> tourists. One guy had a little sign over them saying something like 
> "19th Century Warsaw Nostalgia." I understand that the carvers sell 
> them to tourists in Cracow too. I just wonder what these guys have
> used as models, or whether it is a convention of long standing.
> 
Can't help you with how long they've been making them, but you can find them 
everywhere, as I learned when I taught my Jewish music course in Lublin.  There 
are other Jewish figurines as well.  They may not seem offensive in and of 
themselves, but in a context where that's all you get of that magnificent Jewish
culture that was nearly wiped out, I found them a little hard to take.  After I 
got back, I made a point of getting together with an Ojibwe friend to let him 
know that I knew a little of how American Indians must feel.  He agreed.





Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 626-2200 (fax)

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