Re: Oy Gevalt! (Part Two)

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

Francesco:

Thank you for a first-hand account of what is happening in your beautiful 
country. As someone whose historical specialization is Germany between the 
wars, I find your report extremely disturbing.

I personally believe that the internet is a very important tool in spreading 
information; and as this is the only Jewish list I belong to, I believe that 
such reports as yours definitely belong on this list. 

Political discussions can be people screaming at each other--something I'm sure 
Ari and we all wish to avoid on this list. But anything that threatens our 
basic freedoms as human beings--in this case Jewish human beings--is absolutely 
necessary for us all to hear about. 

Here in America, we have always had the tendency to gloss over bad news, 
because we live such safe, comfortable lives. We must all be vigilant now and 
any first-hand reports on anti-semitic acts should be shared. ON THIS LIST.

It would be foolish for us to throw away such a powerful network--and potential 
support group--just because some incidents seem "political" and not "musical." 
Anything that threatens our safety and right to freely express ourselves is not 
a political issue, rather it is a humanistic issue. 

I say this in full respect of Ari's wishes, with the hope that he lightens the 
reins for these important issues. 

Stay strong,

Eliott Kahn


At 12:18 PM 4/25/02 +0200, you wrote:
>(PART TWO -- CONTINUED FROM "OY GEVALT!" -- PART ONE)
>
>
>How does the current political situation in Italy affect the Jews (and Jewish 
>music)?
>
>First of all, given the present situation in the Middle East, Italy's 
>political parties are very clearly taking sides. Thus, the Government 
>coalition is generally taking Israel's side, while at the same time acting for 
>"peace" (whatever that means in the context of the European Union's views). 
>The center-left-wing is leaning more towards the Palestinian cause, as is 
>customary in Europe's left. What is more relevant, though, is that the debate 
>over Israel/Palestine has given room to a series of anti-Semitic episodes that 
>suggest a clear connection between traditionally left-wing anti-Zionist ideas 
>(whose bottom line is: Israel's original sin in respect to the Palestinian 
>cause) with the more rooted Catholic anti-Semitic beliefs. Thus, even in the 
>national and politically moderate press, the old accusation of murdering Jesus 
>has surfaced (see a NYT editorial of April 20, 2002). Such accusations and 
>mythologies are also being adopted by the extreme left papers. The mixture is 
>a true molotov cocktail...
>
>Jews are of course caught in the middle -- especially the liberal ones. The 
>same old story?
>
>The surfacing of an anti-Semitic rhetoric in the public arena began with a 
>(signed) editorial by Mrs. Barbara Spinelli, in the national paper "La stampa" 
>(the same "liberal Italian daily" that "depicted a baby Jesus looking up from 
>the manger at an Israeli tank, saying, 'Don't tell me they want to kill me 
>again'", as quoted by the NYT) on October 28, 2001. The article, written by a 
>leading cultural commentator who had always been very sensitive about "Jewish" 
>issues,  called upon the Jews in the Diaspora to utter a "mea culpa", 
>apologizing to Islam for all that Israel has done to the Palestinian people. 
>What the writer suggested was that the Diaspora could atone for the Israelis, 
>since they were not going to do it themselves. The model suggested for the 
>apology was the Pope's own apologies to Judaism, as he had pronounced them, 
>clear and loud, during the 2000 Jubilee.
>
>More recently, upon deciding how to proceed in nominating the new managers of 
>Italy's national TV (RAI), it was reported how the general committee of RAI 
>had a discussion over the fact that no more than one of the new managers could 
>be Jewish...
>
>And so on, and on, and on.
>
>What is happening, though, is that most of the reaction to this situation 
>comes only from Jewish intellectual circles and organizations. There has not 
>been a strong response by Italy's intellectuals. My general impression is that 
>in Italy, in 2002, an attack against "the Jews" is seen as a "Jewish problem", 
>and not as an issue that the entire society should be concerned with.
>
>Over the past ten years, Italy has witnessed an incredible success of Jewish 
>culture -- especially music, but also literature, theatre, film. Jewish 
>culture has been one of the major cultural themes, as Ruth Ellen Gruber 
>brilliantly reports in her new book "Virtually Jewish. Reinventing Jewish 
>Culture in Europe" (California Univ. Press, 2001). Klezmer music has played a 
>key role. I have been quite active in this scene, especially in helping bring 
>some of the leading figures in the klezmer revival over here: Brave Old World, 
>Khevrisa, Di Naye Kapelye, to name a few. Also, both as a radio broadcaster 
>and as a scholar, I have been extremely active in publicizing this music -- 
>but always with a (openly stated) concern: Italy is a country with relevant, 
>albeit small, local Jewish traditions, which should not be completely 
>overlooked in favour of a "foreign" interest for Ashkenazi culture and music.
>
>The fascination with Ashkenazi culture has been seen -- by others (especially 
>Ruth Gruber, although to my knowledge the first to raise this issue was 
>Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett) well before than myself -- as connected with 
>the Holocaust, with a general sense of atonement for it seeked by the European 
>people. My own specific argument is that, at least to Italians, it is easier 
>(forgive me for my brutality) to cope with dead Ashkenazi Jews revived on a 
>stage than with undistinguishable Italian Jews who are alive and reside in the 
>same country (let alone with "aggressive" Israelis)...
>
>Thus, I have been operating in three directions -- which I enumerate here in 
>order to offer some materials to a discussion that I hope will begin within 
>our list:
>
>a) Offering a more "realistic" image of Ashkenazi music to the public: 
>concerts, presentations, lectures, radio shows with experts such as Michael 
>Alpert, Zev Feldman, Josh Waletzky, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Musa Berlin...
>
>b) Exposing the modes and the content of Italy's own klezmer revival, and 
>especially its ties with specifically Italian culture, far away from and 
>debate originating within Jewish culture. Interesting information and ideas 
>about this issue can be found in the above mentioned essay by Ruth Gruber, as 
>well as in Mark Slobin's "Fiddler on the Move". A forthcoming article, that I 
>wrote for the "Rivista Italiana di Musicologia" (Italian Journal of 
>Musicology) with the title "If the Fiddler Falls Off the Roof... Italy in the 
>revival of klezmer music" (in Italian), is accompanied by the following 
>abstract:
>Over the past decade, a new genre - "klezmer music" - has surfaced in the 
>music world. Rooted in eastern European Jewish instrumental music and Yiddish 
>song, klezmer has become popular throughout the world, even in countries where 
>Jews are not (or are no longer) present, and where this form of music 
>originally did not exist. Italy - where the extreme popularity this music 
>enjoys has overshadowed local Jewish traditions - presents an interesting 
>study case. "Klezmer" has become a synonym for "Jewish", and denotes a 
>(musical) culture that is believed to live in a transnational and 
>multicultural world outside history. This article reviews recent scholarship 
>on the definition and history of traditional klezmer repertoires, explores 
>general trends in the klezmer revival, and shows how the Italian "klezmer 
>scene" tends to present a repertoire devoid of traditional and Jewish content, 
>while at the same time shaping a "usable tradition" and a new "aesthetic of 
>the old".
>
>
>The topic has been absorbing a lot of my energies, and besides this article 
>(which is a rather long one -- about 45 pages), I have been discussing it at 
>conferences, in lectures and radio programs, as well as in music presentations 
>(like last year at the Klezmer musica festival in Ancona, Italy), with some of 
>the leading pioneers of the Italian revival, among whom I would like to 
>mention Mara Cantoni and Enrico Fink.
>
>c) Exploring Italy's own Jewish musical tradition. The list already knows 
>about the recently issued CD "Italian Jewish Musical Traditions", published by 
>the Hebrew University, which allows all of us to listen for the first time to 
>an anthology of Italian Jewish songs as they were recorded 50 years ago 
>throughout the country.
>
>So, this is -- in its outline -- the story. And my questions are: what are we 
>doing? Are we considering the aftereffects of our work? What happens within 
>the general fascination for Jewish culture? Can this exist next to a true 
>misunderstanding of Jewish life, or even with public manifestations of 
>anti-Jewish feelings?
>
>Finally -- as my dear friend Michael Alpert said to me, thus opening my eyes a 
>few months ago -- for the good or the bad, Italy has been setting trends in 
>world culture at least since the Romans (and Italy's attitudes towards the 
>Jews have been exemplary as well). Perhaps, even nowadays, keeping an eye on 
>what happens in this small, beautiful, rich country can prove to be relevant 
>for all of us.
>
>Sincerely,
>Francesco Spagnolo
>
>
>
>-- 
>
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