Re: Credit where credit is due

[DAVID CHEVAN <dchevan...>]

Okay, okay.  Whether my site was or was not one of those you visited I
publicly admit my guilt.  And, like any good sinnah, I'm going to try to
repent next time I update that page of my site (ie., don't go back there
tomorrow and expect to find this oversight corrected).
I'd like to make a further extension of George's statement.  By leaving our
critics anonymous we further marginalize what is, by most industry accounts
anyway, a marginalized art form.  If George, Gideon, or Seth can establish
themselves as critical names with impact, that would suggest to the music
industry that there is something going on in the Jewish music world that has
viability, and from their perspective, profit.  Believe me, when you are a
Jewish musician who is trying to earn back the dollars you've invested in a
self-produced work, profit -- any degree of profit -- matters.  And that's
just the beginning of the extension of my point.

How marginalized is Jewish music?
So marginalized that the Grammys don't have any kind of award in that
category.  This bothers me a great deal.  Not just for the obvious selfish
egotistical wish to win one, but because there are a big handful of Jewish
recordings that I think deserve them, or at least deserve to be considered
for a Grammy.  For instance, I'm a big fan of "Nigunim," the London,
Sklamberg, Caine recording.  There is no category at the Grammy's for that
album and it deserved some kind of award, some kind of larger form of
acknowledgement.  There are White and Black Gospel Grammys, there's even a
Grammy for Polka music (which it deserves, there's a decent sized Polka
buying audience).  But the Jewish music category is noticeably absent.  (And
please let's not argue about whether there should also be a Yiddish
category, and should we split off a separate Klezmer category and how do you
address Jewish folk music . . . we don't even have one single lousy stinkin'
little gramophone statue to call our own)

I know that I pushed my argument in a direction a little off of George's
course, but I have been grumbling about this problem for far too long and I
have begun to understand that visibility in all aspects of the field is
quite necessary.  Thank you George. Point well taken.

David Chevan
----- Original Message -----
From: George Robinson <GRComm (at) concentric(dot)net>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 2:53 PM
Subject: Credit where credit is due


> Khaverim --
>
> Okay, this may seem a little like nitpicking to many listmembers, but I
> bet Seth and Gideon agree with me on this little kvetch.
>
> Just came from a couple of websites of bands/musicians whose work I have
> praised in the pages of Jewish Week and elsewhere. I was pleased to see
> my reviews quoted in their press materials, but a bit dismayed to see
> them attributed to "Jewish Week." Hey, people, that's not how I spell my
> name.
>
> All joking aside, music critics work hard at their jobs, just like
> musicians. We try to credit those people whose music gives us pleasure,
> and we try to single out for praise individuals as well as bands when
> their work strikes us. I think that we are entitled to the same
> courtesy. Obviously when you are citing an unsigned review, you have to
> credit the publication/website/whatever, but I think it's not too much
> to ask that you mention the name of the reviewer who praised your work
> with at least the same prominence as the publication in which the review
> appeared. Believe me, we get paid little enough as it is without also
> being denied a tiny sliver of ego-gratification.
>
> This has become an even bigger annoyance to me as a book critic, by the
> way, and I can assure you that when the next
> edition/advertisement/paperback of Essential Judaism comes out, I'm
> going to make damned sure the reviewers' names appear with the blurbs
> quoting them.
>
> Okay, had to get that off my chest.
>
> George (Thinking of Changing My Name to Manchester Guardian) Robinson
>
>

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