What is Jewish Music

[cyril robinson <lunar...>]

Those who want to answer this perennial question have often cited a 
statement by Curt Sachs at a World Congress of Jewish Music, from East to 
West (Sorbonne 1957): "Music made by Jews, for Jews, about Jews."

         Obviously, if that were ever true, it no longer is. There is an 
article in the Sept-Oct issue of Mother Jones magazine, "Who's got the 
Blues," by David Hadju, in which the following appears at p. 105. The 
author interviewed Chris Thomas King,
>" the music he makes today draws upon and and recombines a range of 
>musical resources, including rap as well as the blues of his antecedents 
>... As King sees the musical tradition of his heritage, the blues is a 
>philosophy more than a form. "What a lot of people have been calling blues 
>for the last 10, 15 years is not what the blues is, and it doesn't 
>represent my culture. ... If you really knew what the blues were, you 
>would not be trying to preserve that. The essence of the blues is, people 
>didn''t sing in  the cotton fields because they were happy. ... I'm 
>talking about honest music. It's not music that's eager to please or find 
>acceptance. Does it sound like Muddy Waters? No. Does it sound like Blind 
>Willie Johnson? No. Is it the blues? Yes."

         Then the author adds:"If King is right, then perhaps the legend of 
Robert Johnson is wrong. The devil took only his body. His blues soul lives 
on in an unknown kid at the next crossroads, inventing a new sound to scare 
the hell out of the rest of us."




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