Re: Jewish songwriters

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

At 09:21 AM 11/17/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Elliot,
>
>A variation on the claim of the German adage you cite is made by some as to
>Jewish American songwriters.
>
>Look at Jeffrey Melnick's "A Right to Sing the Blues", for example, at page
>43:
>"... in Berlin's "Alexander," George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (itals.), and
>so many other significant productions, Jews capitalized on their ability to
>convey both closeness to the cultural stuff of "Blackness" and distance from
>actual African Americans."
>
>Or come to one of my talks on the music of Blacks and Jews.
>
>Bob

Bob:

I really wish I had the time to address this, because I believe it's an 
important issue. I would only say, briefly, that there's an enormous difference 
between "derivative" music and "synthesized" music. Derivative music imitates, 
which--as we know--is the sincerest form of flattery but not really very 
original. Synthesized music incorporates musical materials and makes an 
entirely new creation out of them.

We Jews in Golus will inevitably be influenced by the music that surrounds us 
in our host nations. But in reality, EVERYONE in America is in Golus. That's 
what I believe anyway. As I've written before, you'll find more Russian and 
Jewish influences in Berlin's music than African-American. In the case of 
Gershwin, he loved stride piano and was a frequent visitor to Harlem to hear 
the great pianists up there. I believe he was well-respected among these Black 
musicians as he was respected for his musicianship by the Gullah Blacks he made 
music with when he was researching PORGY in South Carolina. In other words, he 
successfully synthesized African-American music and made it his own.

All great musics--in my estimation--are hybrids. Ragtime was very influenced by 
the marches of Sousa and opera and piano music of the European Romantic period. 
J.S. Bach wrote French and English keyboard suites and adapted the Italian 
concerto grosso for his own purposes. Handel lived in Italy for several years 
and brought his operatic knowledge as well as his early German Lutheran organ 
background into his brilliant English oratorios. Jimmy Rodgers and Hank 
Williams were highly influenced by African-American blues and Gospel music and 
could be considered fathers of Country-Western. I can go on and on.....

Why none of these folks have been criticized as "capitalizing" on the musics of 
other cultures is--I believe--a question of perception. I believe if the truth 
were really told, Jewish people, when given a fair critical ear and the 
opportunity to freely express themselves, really should be considered extremely 
musical--both in the interpretation and creation of music.

Eliott Kahn

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