Re: Interesting comment

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

At 5:15 PM -0500 1/7/02, Lori Cahan-Simon wrote:
>I was having a discussion with a non-Jewish friend of mine, who is a
>violinist just beginning a study of klezmer music, about why she is
>attracted to klezmer and Yiddish music...........
>
>Why is the [Yiddish] singing so compelling to me? I think because of the
>intensity of the culture........ there is an intensity that comes
>from tight family ties and that lends itself to (later) passionate
>tension release (in music, in humor, etc.) Anyway, the result in this
>klezmer music seems to be singing that is full of both pain and joy
>(sometimes at the same time) that goes off the scale of much of the
>music you hear otherwise. .......

Yes, I've got this theory that laughing with tears (lakhn mit trern) 
is part of dos pintele yid (the essence of being Jewish).  In fact, 
I've been developing a workshop on that topic which I describe below.

WORKSHOP: LAKHN MIT TRERN  (LAUGHING WITH TEARS)

A look at how laughing with tears is fundamental to the Jewish 
outlook on life using Yiddish song and story, and the traditional 
music of prayer for examples.

An example:  Ashrei is a prayer whose opening three lines are about 
happiness.  Ordinarily Ashrei is chanted with the nusakh of the time 
of day and week.  At the opening of Neileh near the end of Yom 
Kippur, Ashrei is sung with a nusakh sad enough to break your heart. 
The irony of pairing a happy prayer with a sad melody is typical of 
the Jewish outlook on life.  We are commanded to rejoice even if we 
have reason to be sad (v'samakhto b'khagekho) and we recall the 
brokenness of the world at the most joyous of occasions, symbolized 
by breaking a glass at a wedding.

It is said that the deepest emotions come from the meeting of 
opposites.  For this workshop we will examine Jewish melodies, 
prayers, songs and customs that demonstrate the Jewish marriage of 
laughter with tears.

Zayt gezunt (be healthy),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204
http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com

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