Re: What is Jewish Music? -- "Holocaust art"

[JeffSchan <JeffSchan...>]

Alex Lubet wrote:

<<Elie Weisel has written on this subject.  As I recall, he's pretty 
circumspect 
about much of the 'Holocaust art' done by non-survivors.  As a non-survivor 
who 
addressed the unspeakable, I'm curious as to the experiences of others on the 
list.>>

Bob Weiner wrote:

<<Far be it for me to equate my empathy for Holocaust survivors to being
a survivor, but I do believe that as Jews we see ourselves as a people
with a shared history and experience.  I would encourage those who are
not survivors themselves (or children of survivors) to attempt to
understand and feel the Shoah as they do.  And if music facilitates
that process, I would encourage them to make and listen to such music.
To say, you can never understand, so don't even try, is, I think,
counter-productive.>>

As both a composer and a child of survivors, I have mixed feelings on the 
subject.  In principle I agree with Bob.  However, in practice, I am often 
quite offended by the music of those who don't have a direct connection with 
Holocaust.  Often, we 2nd generationers have a proprietary feeling about the 
subject, so that should be factored in as well.

As an example, a number of years ago, I went to see John Zorn's 
"Kristallnacht" at the Knitting Factory.  I sometimes find post-modernist 
music entirely too glib in its disrespectful appropriation of traditional 
materials, so I was prepared not to like the piece.  However, "Kristallnacht" 
was emotionally forceful and musically respectful to the subject matter.  On 
the other hand, I have heard many other pieces in other styles which simply 
have little more to say than the Holocaust was a very bad thing.  This I find 
extremely disrespectful.

So I suppose the proof is in the pudding.  If the musician can create a work 
which really has something to say on the subject, then I am happy to have it 
available.  However, if the work is not successful in itself as a work of 
art, then I tend to dismiss it as jumping on the bandwagon of the 
commercialization of the Holocaust.

Jeffrey Schanzer