RE: gilded script on the inlay

[lipkowitz <lipkowitz...>]

I think that they are not only modern catalysts, but, rather, the way in
which music and art grows and changes--particularly as it crosses borders.
Isn't bluegrass the "failure" of white, southern musicians to play Jazz
"correctly."    Early Western, classical music might be thought of as a
botched attempt to reproduce Islamic art music. I'm not suggesting that
anything is permissable.   Art needs stability and tradition as well as
innovation.  But the agent of innovation is often error.
Stuart

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Seth Austen [SMTP:klezmusic (at) earthlink(dot)net]
> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 10:26 AM
> To:   World music from a Jewish slant
> Subject:      Re: gilded script on the inlay
> 
> on 1/16/02 11:17 AM, Joshua Horowitz at horowitz (at) budowitz(dot)com wrote:
> 
> > Kick me for saying this, but there may be something to be said for the
> > modern agents of change, which include
> > 
> > mis-remembering verses; mis-learning tunes from written rather than
> sound
> > sources; mis-interpreting texts and generally missing the point.
> > 
> > All of these are genuine catalysts of change, and whether we choose to
> > accept them as valid or not, they are an inseparable part of the modern
> > musical landscape. And most of the "mis-whatevers" were probably
> formerly
> > also catalysts for musical change and variance. Again, kick me for
> writing
> > this Judith. Really.
> 
> Josh,
> 
> This is a great point! I think there are many instances where we learn
> from
> a flawed source. Once people started recording music into a three minute
> medium of 78's for distribution and sale in a commercial marketplace, that
> completely changed the tradition as it had previously existed. And yet we
> all gather around our coveted sound reproduction devices, hanging on every
> note of these reissues as wisdom handed down from on high. As well we
> should, I might add. But our sources are not accurate resprentations of
> what
> the music sounded like at a Jewish wedding, or a Saturday night house
> party
> for that matter. They are accurate representations of what it sounded like
> in a recording studio, with a producer telling them, no don't do it that
> way, do it this way instead. No, that song of your repertoire isn't Jewish
> enough, or blues enough...
> 
> Many ethnomusicological recordings can also reflect the bias of the
> collector. How many collectors didn't record something because it didn't
> support a point they wished to make?
> 
> OK, you can all kick me too.
> 
> Seth
>  
> -- 
> Seth Austen
> 
> http://www.sethausten.com
> emails: seth (at) sethausten(dot)com
> klezmusic (at) earthlink(dot)net
> 
> 

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