Re: What is Jewish Music - the Metaquestion

[George Robinson <GRComm...>]

I'm in basic agreement with Cantor Weiss on this one. Would you  want to
be restricted to Israeli music? Ick.

One good thing that came out of the last thread was that I realized that
someone -- don't remember who -- suggested that I was taking space away
from people making good "Jewish music" when I review stuff like Fred
Hersh playing Thelonious was essentially correct. I still review jazz in
the column -- and I review people like Lee Konitz and Jane Ira Bloom (to
pick two from my next column) who are not necessarily making "Jewish"
music per se, but I try to focus more on people who don't get exposure
in either the Jewish or non-Jewish music worlds (like Peter Saltzman,
whose Revolution Ensemble plays terrific post-bop jazz but also works in
Jewish subject areas; these guys don't get covered in, say, Downbeat).

Other than that, I'm sooooooooooooo tired of this discussion. We're
going in circles and repeating ourselves to no particular effect.

George (has been known to go in circles to no effect himself, but tries
not to make a habit of it) Robinson


Sam Weiss wrote:
> 
> Joel Epstein wrote:
> 
>           >What does the fact that we are constantly
>           discussing
>           >what is Jewish music say about us?  Do Hungarians
>           >wonder what is Hungarian music?
> 
> I thought that I could easily avoid thinking about this topic (since I
> have no stake in defining Jewish music) but the meta-question does
> interest me.
> I think it confirms that we are the People Of The Question (which I
> prefer to the Muhammadan appelation People Of The Book) and, more
> specifically, the People Of The Self-Question, which is something to
> be proud of.  It also reflects the fact that our unfortunate history
> has afforded us the luxury -- and burden -- of rising above the levels
> of mere nationalism and mere religion when considering matters of
> self-interest and self-definition as a people.  Therefore the
> Hungarians have it much easier than we do.  Of course, for Jews who
> identify with the State of Israel, this luxury was removed in 1948.
> And for such Jews who also take pre-1948 Jewsih cultural history
> seriously, the burden is daily becoming ever more onerous.
> 
> ______________________________________________________
> Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ
> 
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org 
> ---------------------+
>