Re: Old/New World klezmer

[Pete Rushefsky <klezbanjo...>]

George-- thanks for getting us on this track...I'm another one of those who 
gravitates to the tsimbl/fidl/fleyt end of the spectrum.  For me it's been a 
confluence of interests and obsessions.  First a fascination with string 
instruments and their mythic roles in folk cultures around the world.  The 
rather quiet nature of string instruments requires a close and intimate 
connection with the audience.    I felt that a lot of the music played in the 
earlier days of the revival was about "blowing your head off" and had missed 
some of the rich subtleties of the musical tradition.
 
And, yes, this is about a search for a more rooted form of Judaism/Yiddish 
culture.  Tarras's music is very much about retaining Jewish identity without 
being "too Jewish" in America.  The older music was all about being "too 
Jewish."
 
After playing blues, Celtic and old-time Upstate NY music on guitar and banjo, 
when I wanted to explore klezmer I sought a traditional klezmer sound to 
imitate on the plucky instruments I was playing.  And after a few years of 
trying to make guitars and banjos sound like a tsimbl, I decided to take up the 
real thing.  
 
I've had a number of "wow" experiences as I moved in this direction-- watching 
Deborah Strauss in the "In the Fiddler's House" PBS special play that gorgeous 
doina in a Cracow courtyard.  Hearing the Statman/Feldman album and Svigals's 
Fidl for the first time.  Seeing Josh Horowitz playing tsimbl at KlezKamp back 
in '96.  Listening to Elie Rosenblatt recreate the styles of Galician fiddlers 
from the first decade of the 20th century.  Making a pilgrimage to Budapest to 
see Bob Cohen.
 
But it isn't just about recreation of older sounds-- what's exciting is that 
players are creating beautiful new music from the tool kit supplied by the 
earliest klezmer recordings and mixing this with other influences.  So Svigals 
sounds incredibly contemporary, even on ehr recordings of traditional material 
with old-world instrumentation.  Greenman's been writing a bunch of tremendous 
new material based on "lost" European forms that did not transfer to the New 
World such as Dobridens and Zogekhts.  
 
Of course similar artistic efforts had been happening since the earliest days 
of the klezmer revival with reed and brass players, but now contemporary 
klezmorim are often choosing Steiner, Ahl and Solinski (violinists who recorded 
in Europe between 1909 and 1922) as their reference point rather than Tarras, 
Brandwein and Epstein.  And they are doing this in more sophisticated ways.
 
Having said all that, I love Dave Tarras's music.  But something in my heart 
draws me to the Carpathians, Vilna, Bessarabia and the shtetls and cities of 
White Russia.  To quote from poet/songwriter Beyle Schaechter Gottesman's new 
CD:
 
Vos hot lib a yidele?
Vos hot lib a yidele?
Entfert ale hoykh af a kol.
A yid hot lib a nigele,
a tsimbele, a fidele,
A yid hot lib a lidl fun amol.
 
What do Jews like?
What do Jews like?
Let us hear the answer out loud.
Jews love a melody,
a tsimbl, a fiddle,
Jews love the songs of long ago.
 
 
Zay gesind, Pete Rushefsky

Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan (at) staff(dot)chuh(dot)org> wrote:
Speaking of Steven Greenman, he is the reason my albums sound the way 
they do. He arranged the first one and suggested the musicians, and I 
naturally stayed in that idiom for the second. I love the overall sound 
of the instrumentation of fidl, harmonye (accordion), tsimbl, bass, 
fleyt and poyk in their various combinations. The concept I try for is 
that the sum of the music being made is one voice and to try to balance 
that with textures appropriate for the essence of the feeling or subject 
being expressed by lyrics and music.

On a couple of songs Adrianne Greenbaum and Alex Fedoriouk are the only 
accompaniment, creating a marvelous interplay and gentle support with 
flute and tsimbl. As a singer, it is good to play with instrumentation 
that allows one to sing and be heard without amplification.

Lorele

Dawid & Moericke wrote:

>>My
>>gut tells me that with Alicia Svigals' "Fidln'" album and Khevrisa and
>>Budowitz we began to see a new trend in the New Klez world
>> 
>>
>
>I'm not sure that this really makes for a trend, though there are
>undoubtedly more groups around which go for the 'Old/European' thing. On the
>other hand, there are more groups around anyway!
>A need to de-shmalts or de-show klezmer music has always been around
>(speaking of the 'revival'), manifesting itself in different approaches and
>results. Think about Statman/Feldman, Bern/Rubin, Brave Old World, just to
>name a few... all artists who successful tried to gain a deeper
>understanding of the music, by studying the sources.
>
>I never 'went back' consciously, but it happened anyway. I was not primarily
>interested in historical details, but certainly in an in-depth understanding
>of klezmer music. Zooming in. If you have a closer look at musical elements,
>and get more detailed every time, you may end up with a simple phrase played
>as subtle and fragile as we hear it in... the earliest recordings.
>All serious klezmorim I know have, at some point, gone back as far as
>possible, not to go back historically, as a self-purpose, but to get as
>refined and subtle and telling as possible. To learn the whole story from
>its documented beginning.
>Where we go from there, or if we stay, that's a different story...
>
>Luckily, klezmerland still grows, and the picture gets more and more
>differentiated. Undoubtedly, there are much more students at today's camps,
>who are seriously interested in 'old' style/sound/phrasing. At KlezKanada,
>Stu Brotman and I were running an ensemble solely dedicated to Belf's
>Romanian Orchestra's style and repertoire. Steve Greenman writes original
>pieces using the 'old' vocabulary, we have tsimbls and fleyt kapelyes and
>fidl kapelyes, all exploring old-but-still-so-true textures and sounds...
>Interestingly enough, at the same time artists like Jason Rosenblatt's
>Shtreiml or Josh Dolgin celebrate a very successful and enjoyable 'revival'
>of the americanization of klezmer music...
>And we have more and more musicians who do it all, at the same time...
>
>Christian Dawid
>
>
>
> 
>

-- 
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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