Jewish music in the Diaspora and the dominant culture

[itzik gottesman <gottesman...>]

The fact that Jews admire and perform the music of the dominant
culture that persecutes them is one of the ironies of diaspora Jewish
living, extending beyond music. I will just add this account - Isaac
Rymer (Tsunye) of the Bronx described to me how during a pogrom in
his Ukranian shtetl, while the Jews were hiding behind barricades
(there was a Jewish defense group who set them up and were making
lots of noise to give the impression that there were 10 times as many
defenders than there really were) the Cossack pogromchiks came riding
in on horses, proud sitting upright and singing a Ukrainian song that
Rymer then sang with such gusto I was taken aback.

?ÝItzik

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