Re: DBK @ Tonic 107

[r l reid <ro...>]

The below comment requires clarification.  Or else the Neshoma Orchestra
is going to play Lev Tahor under my window all night and I won't get any
sleep (by the way, I *LOVE* the way Neshoma Orchestra plays Lev Tahor).

What I said below, without quite meaning it, is that Neshoma can only 
play it one way, which I personally have enough records of thiers
to say that's not so.

More to the point, when a simcha band plays Od Yishoma or any other
standard simcha tune, they are playing for the joy of the khoson and
kallah and thier family and friends, and need to play it the way they
expect to hear it, because the point (with Od Yishoma, for example)
is Here They Come, not Ain't We Great Musicians with Interesting Ideas.

When I say "our" , I'm self-identifying with the so-called revivalist
movement because like most "revivalists" I did not grow up with a lot
of Jewish music, whereas a lot of your simcha band guys did., and 
probably wonder why we need a revival of something that never died.

My point, and I do have one, is that I think it is great fun to hear
the simhca repertoire in contexts outside of simhcas, where there is no
tate of the kallah who is footing the bill to be pleased, but in the
club or concert or living room situation where the focus IS the musicians
themselves.  I would like to hear more of that repertoire in those
situations outside the catering halls.  And dbk gave me some of that,
which is so rare.

I also am not down on the one man bands.  Some of them are pretty great.
Reb Kugelman who I heard at Karlin Stolin one night - he could rock (this
was for men's dancing so he could just go fulltilt).  The down side is
that the move towards one man bands means some sections of the Jewish 
community are losing the tradition of having good musicians - there are
no fiddlers in Bobov anymore, as far as I know.  

If I've offended anyone with the above, drop me a line and I'll take
it back.

roger, inept

PS - Oh yeah - Brian, the spit wasn't really a big issue.  I've never
spent much time around horns, so I'm just not used to it!

r l reid wrote:
> I was glad to hear, in addition to a lot of the old time tunes, a modern
> simcha set - Od Yishomo etc.  They did it well and I would have danced
> if my ankle did not hurt (once again, the dancers were only folks over
> the age of 80).  I personally wish we could hear more of this music played
> by "our" klezmer bands, giving it a different take from the Neshama Orchestra
> or the one man bands that are now an epidemic.


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