Re: defining Jewish music types

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>Ari wrote:
>
>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.
>
>When I think of Josh Waletzky's songs or Mikveh or BOW, I think new YIDDISH 
>music. because it reflects the fact that the music is firmly rooted in the 
>Ashkenazic style, even when it takes on a most modern coloration.  pharoah's 
>Daughter, Nigunim, Uri Caine in Zohar, etc., I think of more as New Jewish 
>music, ewflwxting more devotional influences.

I dunno, meydele. I tend to regard Yiddish music as part of Jewish music. I 
certainly wouldn't give the "Jewish" up entirely to religious music (which is 
an obvious type of Jewish music, certainly). But we identify as "Jewish" in 
many ways, and I'm looking for albums that seem to be part of the edge of how 
we seek Jewish identity musically.

ari

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