Defining Klezmer
To define the revival, we must first ask, "What is Klezmer"?
It was not defined in the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary until 1996 and now is defined as, “a Jewish instrumentalist [especially] of Eastern European traditional music”. Klezmer music in its relation to the revival seems very hard to define. Is it merely old folk music or does it have modern appeal?
Klezmer pioneer Andy Statman states, “I don’t think a lot of people who are playing ‘klezmer’ music today are really well trained in the style or really in fact even understand the style. It becomes very easy for people to learn a melody of a Jewish song and text and superficial bits of ornamentation." Furthermore, “Klezmer has gone from an underused term to being overgeneralized” (Sapoznik 244), Said Frank London, trumpet player for the Klezmatics’. Klezmer has become a buzzword used by many record labels, news sources, and musicians to describe anything that is even remotely Jewish.
It is possible that it is so hard to define klezmer because it has its roots in so many different genres. Hank Sapoznik found his klezmer roots by wandering through Appalachia trying to learn banjo licks. Other pioneers of the revival looked to Balkan or Gypsy music. Klezmer truly has it's hand in many pots. It would be very reasonable to go into a music store and find klezmer filed under folk, world music, jazz, spiritual, jewish, classical, and more.
There are many differing ideas when it comes to the Revival: “Members of the young Swedish band, Vurma Klezmer Orkester, insist on two revivals, not one, and see themselves as part of the “second renaissance” of the music, the first one having occurred in the late seventies.” (Slobin 131) This idea is shared with many groups who are popular in Europe. American klezmer reached its peak in the mid 80's and 90's, whereas Europe, and in particular Germany, continue to have a vibrant klezmer culture.
It is argued that "Revival" is not even the correct word for what happened to klezmer in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. A revival implies that something was dead in the first place. In actuality, klezmer was just out of favor for a couple of decades. Another argument is that the style of klezmer today (or at least in the 80’s) was not a revival but just new, contemporary music. In addition, many scholars prefer the term "Neoklezmer" to "Revival".
There has also been much controversy over what type of role religion should play in the revival. In 1996, a columnist reviewed a performance by the David Krakauer Trio describing a, "standing-room-only-crowd jammed the pews and aisles of St. James Church on Tuesday night to worship at the altar of Klezmer" (Slobin 134). It is accounts like these that remind us that revival itself is a religious term.
On the other hand, many musicians and scholars did not identify with the religiosity of klezmer. Klezmer musician Giora Feidman has stated that, “Klezmer is not Jewish music”. In addition to this, the revivalist band Klezmorium has always maintained that klezmer is not a religious art. On the jacket of their first album you can find the words “File under: Folk or Jazz.” On frequent occasions, Klezmorum has made many attempts to blatantly distance themselves, as well as the genre, from any sort of religious connotation. Along the same token, the klezmer revival was largely ignored in Israel, the religious capital of Judaism, while it was vastly popular in Germany and the United States.
Many have argued that the resurgence of klezmer came only to remember the holocaust or for nostalgic reasons alone. "The argument is that while there are valid criticisms of aspects of the revival of Yiddish culture as ‘kitsch’ and commercialized, the new klezmer is complex and polyvalent. Performance might attempt to ‘recreate’ a lost style or alternatively play on an original modality in a way that establishes an aesthetic distance from the past, opening a space for awareness of traumatic loss. It aims to show how new or neoklezmer provides a means of developing a new aes- thetics of memory through innovations in musical performance" (Ray 358).
Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the klezmer revival has played an important role, not only in the lives of Jewish Americans, but for all lovers of music. The nostalgic curiosity, coupled with high performance expectations, has opened the door for musicians to revive, relive, and expand upon klezmer and the Yiddish tradition.
It was not defined in the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary until 1996 and now is defined as, “a Jewish instrumentalist [especially] of Eastern European traditional music”. Klezmer music in its relation to the revival seems very hard to define. Is it merely old folk music or does it have modern appeal?
Klezmer pioneer Andy Statman states, “I don’t think a lot of people who are playing ‘klezmer’ music today are really well trained in the style or really in fact even understand the style. It becomes very easy for people to learn a melody of a Jewish song and text and superficial bits of ornamentation." Furthermore, “Klezmer has gone from an underused term to being overgeneralized” (Sapoznik 244), Said Frank London, trumpet player for the Klezmatics’. Klezmer has become a buzzword used by many record labels, news sources, and musicians to describe anything that is even remotely Jewish.
It is possible that it is so hard to define klezmer because it has its roots in so many different genres. Hank Sapoznik found his klezmer roots by wandering through Appalachia trying to learn banjo licks. Other pioneers of the revival looked to Balkan or Gypsy music. Klezmer truly has it's hand in many pots. It would be very reasonable to go into a music store and find klezmer filed under folk, world music, jazz, spiritual, jewish, classical, and more.
There are many differing ideas when it comes to the Revival: “Members of the young Swedish band, Vurma Klezmer Orkester, insist on two revivals, not one, and see themselves as part of the “second renaissance” of the music, the first one having occurred in the late seventies.” (Slobin 131) This idea is shared with many groups who are popular in Europe. American klezmer reached its peak in the mid 80's and 90's, whereas Europe, and in particular Germany, continue to have a vibrant klezmer culture.
It is argued that "Revival" is not even the correct word for what happened to klezmer in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. A revival implies that something was dead in the first place. In actuality, klezmer was just out of favor for a couple of decades. Another argument is that the style of klezmer today (or at least in the 80’s) was not a revival but just new, contemporary music. In addition, many scholars prefer the term "Neoklezmer" to "Revival".
There has also been much controversy over what type of role religion should play in the revival. In 1996, a columnist reviewed a performance by the David Krakauer Trio describing a, "standing-room-only-crowd jammed the pews and aisles of St. James Church on Tuesday night to worship at the altar of Klezmer" (Slobin 134). It is accounts like these that remind us that revival itself is a religious term.
On the other hand, many musicians and scholars did not identify with the religiosity of klezmer. Klezmer musician Giora Feidman has stated that, “Klezmer is not Jewish music”. In addition to this, the revivalist band Klezmorium has always maintained that klezmer is not a religious art. On the jacket of their first album you can find the words “File under: Folk or Jazz.” On frequent occasions, Klezmorum has made many attempts to blatantly distance themselves, as well as the genre, from any sort of religious connotation. Along the same token, the klezmer revival was largely ignored in Israel, the religious capital of Judaism, while it was vastly popular in Germany and the United States.
Many have argued that the resurgence of klezmer came only to remember the holocaust or for nostalgic reasons alone. "The argument is that while there are valid criticisms of aspects of the revival of Yiddish culture as ‘kitsch’ and commercialized, the new klezmer is complex and polyvalent. Performance might attempt to ‘recreate’ a lost style or alternatively play on an original modality in a way that establishes an aesthetic distance from the past, opening a space for awareness of traumatic loss. It aims to show how new or neoklezmer provides a means of developing a new aes- thetics of memory through innovations in musical performance" (Ray 358).
Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the klezmer revival has played an important role, not only in the lives of Jewish Americans, but for all lovers of music. The nostalgic curiosity, coupled with high performance expectations, has opened the door for musicians to revive, relive, and expand upon klezmer and the Yiddish tradition.