Re: defining the klez

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of <LAW2-F83ACTz8RQyi0J000055d8 (at) hotmail(dot)com>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> 
> 
> Now to continue or to stop this discussion of trying to make a
> definition of
> a certain musical style. Here is what I found as labels.
> We can just going on labeling or to avoid any labeling at all.
> 
> music - any music by any people
> new music - contemporary classic music
> folk music - music by folkies
> modern jewish music - classical rooted music by jews
> new jewish music - contemporary Western art music by jews with jewish
> musical origins
> 
> klezmer - music of klezmorim  (jewish musicians)
> traditional instrumental music of East-European Jews a.k.a. klezmer
> (definition of Merlin Shepherd)
> American klezmer - fusion of European Jewish styles (Dave Tarras etc.)
> European klezmer music - Khevrisa CD-title
> Traditional Klezmer - (early American Klezmer?)
> Jewish world-music or Jewish-world music
> contemporary jewish music
> authentic jewish music
> yiddish music
> new yiddish music
> Yiddish Theatre music
> Yiddish Vaudeville (The Original Klezmer Jazz Band)
> Chassidic music (Nigunim?)
> Hassidic New Wave ( Frank London)
> Hebrew music
> Klezjazz (?Yale Strom?/ Klezmokum/ The Modern Klezmer Quartet)
> Klezgrass
> 
As one of the contributors to this list (of a label I didn't invent), I'm 
sensing here a proposal that we abandon labels entirely.  I'd be the first 
person to acknowledge the problems, but I'd submit that we can't funtion 
musically or in any other way without them.  It is necessary to acknowledge that
every definition is going to be contested and deal with it, rather than 
suggested that any label that is contested is useless.  It's a bit like saying 
that an equation with more than one variable is useless.

Klezmer, btw, is a pretty tricky term, given that its current usage post-dates 
its canonic repertoire.  I recommend Mark Slobin's Fiddler on the Move (Oxford) 
as a place to explore what all constitutes klezmer.

If you really want to confront this condition head-on, try defining 'music.'  
Then let someone test you on a bunch of examples, using as the criterion whether
or not the folks who made them up consider them music, and see how well you do. 
Unless you're a well-rounded ethnomusicologist, you're probably going to flunk 
every time.

Even though they're usually contested, I find labels useful.

Git shabes (a label I use to identify the Jewish sabbath),



Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)

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