Re: A nice surprise?

[Elrosen <Elrosen...>]

In a message dated 5/1/01 9:07:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Warschauer (at) aol(dot)com writes:

<< Hmmmm... does this question lead to a quagmire as sticky as the question 
 "what is Jewish Music?"  ;-)  >>

I'm sure this question has been addressed before on the list and probably 
been endlessly debated, but since Jeff did bring it up.... How would everyone 
here define Jewish music?
    I'm inclined to follow the Idelson approach and say that the inclusion of 
a Jewish mode would merit the title "Jewish Music". But, after being attacked 
by many of my peers for excluding the music of R' Carlebach, MBD, Avraham 
Fried etc.("How can you not call it Jewish Music?!?!?! It's written by Jews, 
and we listen to it!!!"), I'm forced to rethink my position. Just because 
Jews listen to it, does the music deserve to be identified from a 
musicological standpoint as being "Jewish"? Would the music of those whose 
names I mentioned above, in addition to that of modern songwriters such as 
Debbie Friedman (though I am not too familiar with her work) be considered 
Jewish?
If a Jewish songwriter composes a tune in swing rhythm, but includes passages 
from psalms or the prayer book would that make it Jewish? What if the 
audience is mostly Orthodox? Many make the (somewhat shaky) assumption that 
they are the ones whose ties to Jewish CULTURE are the strongest (the 
division of Torah and culture is another debate altogether). If most Orthodox 
Jews do listen to it, has it attained the status of being "Jewish"? This is a 
question I'm forced to reply to almost every day.

Kol Tuv,
Elie

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