Re: What is Jewish Music?

[shirona <shirona...>]

I've just experienced a five-day mega-dose of Jewish Music, at Lake
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.  For those who may not know - this is Hava Nashira.
The main focus at Hava Nashira is training songleaders and music teachers,
sharing new (or old) music - whether it's camp songs or new liturgical
songs, and with 130 people of all ages gathered in one place sharing a
passion for Jewish Music - it becomes something much more than a seminar...

What makes HN critical is the fact that everyone present is in a position to
influence many others, especially kids, who will grow up ( in this rapidly
assimilating culture ) with the music they are taught - and that will be the
core of what they consider Jewish Music.

Shirona
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* * *  Singer / Songwriter and Teacher of Jewish Music * * *
          www.shirona.com

          Listen to Shirona's music on:
          www.mp3.com/shirona
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Lubet" <lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: What is Jewish Music?


> >A while ago, Alex Lubet--or maybe it was Wolf, cited by
> >Alex--offered the imaginative definition of Jewish music as "music
> >used by Jews to propagate Jewish life."  Though I think that's an
> >intriguing addition to our files, as it were, I've been meaning to
> >take (some) issue with it--as I think motivation is always a
> >difficult and problematic thing to assess.
> >
> >What if music with some traditional or traditional-sounding
> >(whatever that means) Jewish content, or music without (discernible)
> >such, at least in the minds of a given listener or listeners, was
> >created by the composer as a means of expressing his own Jewish
> >identity--and/or his relationship _to_ Jewish identity, or Jewish
> >culture and music, or Jewish history, or whatever; but (s)he lacked
> >the specific intention of "propagating Jewish music."  Is the result
> >Jewish music?
> >
> >I'm thinking, for example, of many of the compositions that come
> >under the (anomalous?) rubric of "Radical Jewish Music"--from the
> >composers around the Tzadik label, the Knitting Factory, and such.
> >I don't know that any--or, anyway, some--in that scene particularly
> >intend to propagate Jewish life--and that's not a typical motivation
> >for composing music (or for most artistic work) in any case.  But of
> >course one *could* argue--though this, too, would be a
> >variable/subjective/problematic judgment--that their music does, *in
> >fact,* help propagate Jewish life.  Indeed, one could perhaps say
> >one or both things about Wolf's music itself--soon coming to Tzadik,
> >as it happens (though only he could really settle the first
> >question, obviously).
> >
> >What say you--Wolf, Alex, et al.?   Do you really have to intend to
> >propagate Jewish life for your music to be Jewish music?
> >
> >--Robert Cohen
>
> At the risk of sounding a bit like Bill Clinton, who rose to his own
> defense by asking his interrogaters to define words like 'is,' the
> definition I provided is intended to problematize ownership (the
> 'your' the Bob refers to).  The example you give, of 'Radical Jewish
> Culture,' is unambiguous insofar as, John Zorn, the reigning honcho
> of the Tzadik label and its Radical Jewish Culture series, clearly
> intends to propogate Jewish life through these recordings.  I think
> it's self-evident in what he chooses to call them.
>
> Needless to say, that's not going to end debate about Zorn, Tzadik,
> Wolf's music, or any other music, nor was it intended to do so, as
> that would be foolish.  What constitutes Jewish life is hotly debated
> and will be for the forseeable future.
>
> Speaking as a composer who has taught composition to many, many
> students for nearly a quarter-century, I've seen numerous motivations
> for composing and no one has to be limited to any one, nor can we
> always be sure what anyone's motivations are, including oneself.  Who
> among us really comprehends the social (and other) forces that
> motivate our decisions.  On the other hand, I've done plenty of music
> with what I and numerous others would regard as Jewish content.  I
> think constantly about the social ramifications of the music I 'do'
> (a carefully chosen ambiguous term that includes, but is not limited
> to composing and/or performing.  Do I do what I do to propagate
> Jewish life?  Absolutely!  (It's also the way I make my living, I
> like doing things that make people happy, I like to do music I enjoy
> myself, and I like doing things I think I do well.  Doubtless there
> are other forces that motivate me that I don't fully comprehend.)
>
>
>
>
> --
> Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
> Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
> Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
> University of Minnesota
> 100 Ferguson Hall
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> 612 624-7840 (o)
> 612 699-1097 (h)
> 612 624-8001  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)
>
>

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