Re: defining the klez

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

I have to disagree with the request to eschew labels, if only for purposes of 
discussion. Like many people on this list, my own tastes are quite catholic
(sorry--just love using that word in this context). But when trying to describe
something that is happening, or a type of music, it is often useful to use
a label to try to construct a matrix of similar-sounding, or similarly inspired
music. 

Of course, for labels to work, there has to be some shared meanings. Let me
add my own two cents.

>new jewish music - contemporary Western art music by jews with jewish
>musical origins

I started to disagree, and then realized that the ways in which I often use
it--most recently to describe music by Josh Waletzky, or Mikvey, or Brave Old
World--it does seem to mostly fit. Somewhere we need a term that also refers
to trends that are new, such as the growing number of new recordings of prayer
set to Middle Eastern melodies (some of what I hear in Atzilut or Pharoah's
Daughter), or in which nusach is grounds for exploration in general--Uri
Caine's work in Zohar, or the Nigunim trio.

>klezmer - music of klezmorim  (jewish musicians)

or, to be fair, music played by whomever in that style. Not all Jewish wedding
musicians are Jewish (nor do Jews necessarily make good klezmorim!)--that would
fit Merlin's definition, I think:

>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?)

Well, this is where there needs to be a way to describe time. Modern European
klezmer is something very different from the music that european Jews were
recording and playing 100 years ago. And modern (post-revival, or post-1970s --
pick your term) American klezmer is, indeed, quite a soup of traditional
European Jewish wedding music and Israeli folk music and Yiddish show tunes
plus a plethora of current American influences.

In this regard, I love the Kurt Bjorling quote (cited by Mark Slobin in "Fiddler
on the Move") about how he isn't a klezmer, because that would mean playing a 
lot of modern stuff in which he has no interest!

>authentic jewish music

The word "authentic" is so loaded, and so person- and context- dependent, that 
I'll assume that this is there for either completeness or irony!

ari

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