Re: women musicians

[Elrosen <Elrosen...>]

  I actually just played at an Orthodox wedding where women (violin and harp) 
were a part of the band. But this was a rather upscale event, and the strings 
mostly played the standard waltzes (Nutcracker suite, Strauss, etc.) At the 
average Orthodox wedding, you wouldn't have such orchestration. 
There is a well known violin soloist, Miri Ben-Ari, who plays for Neginah, one 
of NY's larger Jewish orchestras. She usually fills the standard Jewish numbers 
with jazz solos, which is why she's quite popular. But the truth of the matter 
is that "fiddlers", and in fact any klezmer musician, are not in demand for 
Orthodox weddings. To quote a well known klezmer, the clarinet is "the dinosaur 
of Jewish music". Whereas there does seem to be some growing interest in 
klezmer music within Chassidic circles, the music has not taken in the 
mainstream Orthodox communities. You will, on occasion, see the reeds-player at 
Orthodox weddings pull out the clarinet and play a couple of yiddish theater 
melodies. But the fact that it is not used in the freylekhs set suggests that 
the instrument, and in general, the music, are part of a bygone era, a music 
that is to them no longer "in style". As Jordan said, Margot would have to 
bring her sax and flute in order to play at Orthodox weddings - th!
at's what the style dictates. No
w, whether klezmer will make a come-back at such weddings remains to be seen....

Be Well,
Elie

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