Re: Kol Isha

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

I've stayed out of this for a while, but I need to respond here. 
 Sylvia, you are an amazingly clear and articulate writer and I thank 
you for your words.

Avi, the event planner, believe it or not, was a woman who imposed HER 
will on the rest of the stunned committee.  She is a woman you can not 
argue with because she talks over anyone else and is not a good 
listener.  I found this out when I tried to speak with her to calmly 
express my disappointment with her decision.  I have just found out this 
evening that she apparently had consulted her rabbi about this event, 
without speaking to anyone else on the committee beforehand, and 
promised him there would be no female singing voices.  This being the 
case, the rest of the committee felt there was no way to change this 
unexpected promise.  Many in the planning group had never even heard of 
Kol Isha before this.  Perhaps the biggest factor is that she was 
putting up most of the money for the event and was to donate 80% of the 
proceeds to the Israel Hunger Centers, so the squeaky wheel was greased.

As an upshot of this, it was informally decided that publicity about our 
group will state the fact that there is a female vocalist so that we can 
avoid messes like this in the future.

A farshlepte krenk, IMHO  
Lorele

Avi Rosenblatt wrote:

>
> On Sunday, March 2, 2003, at 07:34  PM, Sylvia Schildt wrote:
>
>> Politically, the singer was denied the platform because more weight was
>> given by presenters to the religious sensibilities of a FEW for whom 
>> this
>> religious law is binding,  than to the political and religious right 
>> of the
>> singer to sing or of the audience to hear her sing in her normal role 
>> with
>> this klezmer group-- in a situation in which neither the singer nor 
>> the rest
>> of the audience feel religiously bound by said law.
>
>
> So basically what you are saying is, the organizers have no right to 
> organize the event as they please. I think "that" would be imposing 
> one's view on another.
> I agree that the approach of the organizer to cancel the singer at the 
> last minute was terribly wrong and I'm sure insulting. But however 
> inappropriate, it still remains the planner's right to choose who 
> performs.
>
> Avi
>
>
>

-- 
You can now hear Lori's new CD, Songs My Bubbe Should Have Taught Me; Vol.1: 
Passover, at: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lcahan Only $15 & postage. Email me for 
more info.
 




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