from Yale Strom

[Seth Rogovoy <seth.rogovoy...>]

[Yale Strom asked me to post the following response to Matt's initial
posting, which Yale felt did not accurately represent his thoughts --
Seth Rogovoy]


Matt,

You missed the point. 

What I said was simply that if this revival, this bale-kulturnik scene
is to grow the musicians no matter how far they take the music still
have to be grounded in some semblance of the knowledge of the culture in
which the music grew out of. And even better than just knowing some
history of the Jews in Eastern Europe when should learn a little of the
language they spoke. Yes this means learning a little Yiddish, this will
help the musician get inside the head, of these quite engimatic
characters. No one doesn't have to be fluent but one who says why do I
have to learn the vernacular they spoke misses the whole point of what
carrying on a tradition and departing from it, is all about.

I still stand by my last chapter in my book. And yes it will ruffle some
feathers of those trying to play the music, take it in to new
worlds....but hey  really learning another person's folk music, or your
own takes a little work...it is not just learning the riffs, the
improvs. and the black notes on the page.

As I say in my book: (The Book of Klezmer) p. 264. Playing Brandwein or
Tarras note for note with all the proper klzmer dreydlekh is enough to
maintain the music on a cursory level, and that fine for many musicians.
But, as John Zorn said to me, "The music is much more that a flat two
and a sharp four." If you can "talk the talk" (Yiddish) you really can't
"walk the walk." The musician will bring a greater profundity to klezmer
if he or she understands some portions of the history, folkore and
language.

The earliest descendants of today's klezmorim were the medeival
Ashkenazic minstrels who played and sang in Yiddish. Thus for the
bal-kulturnik scene to continue to develop and flourish, whether it be
neotraditionalist or avant-gardists, the Yiddish component will need to
be explored, examined and exploited. Old and new Yiddish songs will help
us better understand the past, present and future world of the klezmer.

zay gezint, Yale