By Moshe Denburg

Klezmer – Intro

Well, first of all, let’s take care of a few concepts. The term Klezmer primarily denotes the Jewish musician, and is a construction composed of two Hebraic words: kli, which means vessel or instrument; and zemer, which means song. Thus, the Jewish musician is understood to be a vessel of song, an instrument of song. I believe it was Giora Feidman, a wonderful Klezmer clarinettist, who pointed out that the Jewish musician’s task is to act as a channel of music in this world, a connector between the divine and the earthly. At least, that is what we hope he does – and this is what makes him a Klezmer.

By extension, it became common, in the old country – namely 19^th century Eastern Europe – to use the term Klezmer for a group or band of musicians playing for Jewish celebrations. So, “Golda, did you hire anyone to play at your daughter’s wedding”. “Yes, I hired a Klezmer”. Further, by way of defining the nomenclature, the plural of Klezmer, the individual musician, is Klezmorim, a Hebraic plural construction. So, my dear Klezmorim, play on, make us happy!

The music that Klezmorim played at Jewish celebrations in the old country was mainly instrumental. There was a component of Yiddish (Judeo-German) song, and other entertainments, but this was not the main function of a Klezmer. Yiddish song grew as a parallel tradition, mainly as part of the Yiddish Theatre. In the late 19^th and early 20^th century, Eastern European Jewish people began to move more westward, to Western Europe and North America. Here, especially in the USA, is where the Yiddish Theatre blossomed, but the pure instrumental form of the Klezmer from the old country started to be less in demand. Certainly, there were always aspects of the instrumental forms in Yiddish song, and the Klezmer influence continued to be present in Jewish music; but gradually, with the emphasis on popular genres, and the development of music based on the Hebrew liturgy – prayers and scriptures – the purely instrumental form of the old country fell into disuse.

In the early 1970s, by dint of old recordings and meetings with elderly Klezmorim, a movement was begun, the Klezmer revival movement. Here was a style of music making – of inflection and rhythm and modal melodies – that was a separate esthetic, to be preserved. This is when the term Klezmer came to denote the style of instrumental music making for Jewish celebrations, as in the old country. And due to the popularization of Klezmer music, the term Klezmer started to denote all the music of the Jews of the western world, also known as Ashkenazi Jews. So wherefrom the term Ashkenazi? Ashkenaz is a biblical term that came to denote eastern European places, and, from the 11th century onwards, it became associated with Germany and northern Europe. Thus, Ashkenazi Jews are the Jews of Europe and, by dint of migrations westward, a large proportion of the Jews of America.

Though it is undoubtedly true that the Klezmer revival focused on the instrumental form, with its attendant melodic forms and rhythms, the origin of the term Klezmer denotes the Jewish musician. This lends credence to the view that the music of today’s Klezmorim, who are making music for celebrations today, can come under the banner of Klezmer as well. At least for the purposes of this discussion, Klezmer will mean ‘all’ the work of the Ashkenazi Jewish musician of yesterday and today.

 

Klezmer – the instrumental genre

 To honour Klezmer’s roots, let’s deal with the instrumental genre. There are a great many examples of this genre today, and there have always been Klezmorim active in keeping this tradition alive.

The modes utilized in traditional Klezmer are very specific, but what is less known is that these modes are the same as the modes utilized in the synagogue by the cantor, for prayers. So what, you may ask, is a mode? To be brief, a mode is a way of organizing the notes of a scale into melodic combinations. A mode utilizes certain typical melodic formulas for opening and closing a piece, and abides by certain rules governing the emphasis on one or another note or groups of notes. So as I was saying, there is a very strong continuity between synagogue practice and music for celebrations, the big difference being that traditional synagogue prayer modes are performed a capella, that is without instruments, whereas music for celebrations utilize instruments.

Interestingly, many klezmer musicians today, especially in Europe, are not Jewish themselves, but have devoted themselves seriously to learning the genre, some very expertly. It is an example of how Klezmer is ‘not too Jewish’. But more about that later.

 

Yiddish Song

 As we explained above, parallel to the development of the instrumental genre of celebration music in 19^th Century Europe, the Yiddish Theatre was established, where Yiddish song was developed. The father of the Yiddish Theatre is acknowledged to be Abraham Goldfaden, who eventually came to America, where the Yiddish Theatre took root and continued to develop in the 20^th Century. Yiddish song developed as a genre unto itself, and Jewish music is indelibly linked to its sentiments. After all, Yiddish was the language of Ashkenazi Jews everywhere, even in America, until after the holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel, where Hebrew became the official language. Still today, Yiddish is sung, the repertoire is vast, and it is still spoken by some, though mainly the ultra Orthodox Hassidic sects who prefer to cleave to older forms of dress and language.

 There are so many beloved Yiddish songs in the repertoire today, and a wellspring of poetry that is still called upon to carry new melodies. And newly minted Yiddish songs are still being created, as well as original arrangements of old chestnuts.

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Migration to America and the Addition of Swing

 As Jewish people migrated more and more to America, in the latter part of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, they started to interact with American culture. And, as has been the way of diaspora Jews the world over, they participated in, contributed to, and picked up aspects of Western culture. One very significant adaptation was the incorporation of swing into Yiddish songs.

Perhaps as an extended expression of the Yiddish Theatre that the Ashkenazim brought to America, Jewish musicians and composers began to be active in the secular theatre in America. There are many who contributed greatly to this genre, to the Broadway musical, and then to Hollywood movies. Some names immediately come to mind:

Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin), Richard Rogers (family’s name originally Rogazinsky), George Gershwin (born Jacob Gershwine), Eddie Fisher (his father’s surname was originally Tisch), Fanny Brice (born Fania Borach), Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish); Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky).

Then there are the Hollywood moguls, to mention a few prominent ones:

Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz); Louis B. Mayer (born Lazar Meir); Warner Brothers – Harry, Abraham, Samuel, and Jack (whose family name in Poland was originally Wonsal).

Later on in this presentation, in the section ‘Not Too Jewish’, we will touch upon the integration, and oftentimes assimilation, of these Jewish movers into American culture, and of their need to change their names in the first half of the 20^th century. But once Jewish artists felt comfortable enough to express their own culture and their own names, we have the birth, in the 60s, of an indelible piece of Jewish-Americana, the Broadway show: Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.

 

‘…but not Too Jewish’

1. Jewish Music by Non-Jewish Composers

Though we will deal with the more jocular aspects of the ‘not too Jewish’ idea of our presentation a little later, here is the more serious part. An important matter to realize is that since the age of enlightenment, certain non-Jewish composers and musicians have actually tried their hand at creating very indentifiably Jewish musical works. The three 19^th-20^th Century European composers that come to mind are: Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Max Bruch. Here we can take the term ‘not too Jewish’ to mean ‘not only Jewish’.

Shostakovich identified with Jews as the victims of thousands of years of injustice. He said “I often test a person by his attitude toward Jews. I broke with even good friends if I saw they had any anti-Semitic tendencies.” In 1944 when he learned about what was happening in German concentration camps he wrote klezmer-like music in the finale of his 2nd trio for piano, violin and cello.

In America, in the later 20^th Century, one name that comes to mind immediately is the composer John Williams. His signature ‘Jewish’ work is the theme from Schindler’s list. This is a very Jewish theme, showing that, to use a metaphor – “you don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye”. More seriously, we have now entered a truly global age of art, where one can learn from all cultures, and even create a signature piece of it.

 

Music of Simcha (Jewish Celebration), Synagogue, and Liturgy

What is probably the most Jewish expression of Jewish music, is the music of celebration, which is called a Simcha in Hebrew. The Simcha is usually a life passage event, a wedding, a bar or bat mitzvah, an anniversary or other significant milestone event in Jewish life, as well as communal events celebrating a holiday like Hanuka and others. There are a variety of ways the Jewish musician, the klezmer gives expression to Jewishness:

• instrumental Klezmer ensemble playing;
• the music of the synagogue;
• singing and dancing based on liturgical texts from the prayer book and from scripture.

 

‘…but not Too Jewish’

1. The irrepressible Jewish desire to join in, to be accepted

And now we come to what we could call the kishkes (the guts) of the situation. What’s this ‘not too Jewish’ thing really about?

Firstly, let’s face it, Jewish people have been guests in countries and cultures not their own for the better part of the last 2000 years. Apart from being kicked around, kicked out, and generally kicked, it seems to me that we have tried our best to adapt to the culture around us, involving ourselves in it, contributing to it, and borrowing certain things to take home with us so to speak.

So just to make sure we have an answer to the John Williamses of this world, let us not forget all the Jewish musicians and songwriters that have been very successful, over the years, in contributing music to the Christmas songbook. White Christmas by Irving Berlin is a prime example, but many others are also notable.

Let’s go back a bit – it is likely that Klezmorim played together with non-Jewish musicians in the old country, and just like today, the band that played at a Jewish Simcha was not 100% comprised of Jews. Modes and melodies were undoubtedly adapted and developed by the klezmer, and this dialogue of cultures is what is a hallmark of Jewish experience for as long as we can remember. There is a survival strategy here, in my opinion; for if we had tried to resist the outside culture entirely, it might have backfired, and assimilation, not to mention conversion, might have been the result. Interestingly, in America today, Jewish people have become so mainstream, that assimilation is in fact happening, and it is a challenge to be an American Jew with the accent on ‘Jew’.

This ease of integration was not at all the case for the Jews who came from the old country. They did not want to be identified as Jews, so that they could more easily take part in American mainstream culture. Thus the ubiquity of name changing, of, pardon the term, ‘goyification’ of identifiable Jewish names. (For those of you who do not know, the term ‘goy’ simply means ‘nation’, and in Jewish vernacular it denotes a gentile, a non-Jew). So, immigrant Ashkenazi Jews wanted to assimilate, and not be identified as ‘too Jewish’.

The practice of changing Jewish surnames into non-Jewish sounding ones has been discontinued since the mid-20^th Century, as Jewish celebrities do not mind being identified as Jewish. So Jerry Seinfeld is Jerry Seinfeld, and Paul Simon is Paul Simon. These represent Jewish Americans completely integrated into the mainstream of American culture.

So this is an important thing about ‘not too Jewish’ – Jewish artists have engaged in contributing to the culture in which they found themselves, and by so doing, integrated outside influences into Jewish forms of expression. Because of this, Klezmer has elements of the music of non-Jewish Eastern European cultures; and in turn, it has contributed pieces to the repertoires of these host cultures.

 

III. Putting on Another Culture’s Garb

And now we get to the real fun, and funny part of ‘Not Too Jewish’. Pursuant to the idea of Jewish artists’ need to assimilate, as it became more and more accepted for Jewish artists to be identified as such, it has become great fun to put together, or juxtapose, Jewish and non-Jewish expression.

One example of Yiddish-Americana is a Yiddish adaptation of Home on the Range. This stuff definitely belongs in Nosh-ville!

 

 It’s Jewish If That’s How You Feel About it

But seriously, are these secular concoctions, and crossover tunes actually ‘Jewish’?

For me, coming from a Rabbinical background, Jewishness has its roots in the religious culture. And indeed we may have been forged by the ritual references and practices of Judaism over the millennia. But collective identity is a tricky thing, and it is just as valid, I would say, that a saucy song from the Yiddish Theatre is every bit as Jewish as Kol Nidrei – the invocation chanted to enter into Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. But we all come back to our own experiences, the flavours, the smells, the melodies of our Jewish lives.

As a klezmer, I have always been an equal opportunity musician – I have played for a Hasidic wedding, and for a Gay Jewish wedding as well. And for interfaith marriages too. Many of the ‘same songs’, the same melodies, the same dances. Ok, I’m a very confused individual, eh? But the saving grace in all this is that the klezmer, the Jewish musician, refuses to get bogged down by one rigid definition of what is Jewish music. We play and sing Jewish music, but we are also learning from the world around us, stuff that’s ‘not too Jewish’, or at least, ‘not yet’ Jewish.

So, in my fervent wish to give everybody a passing grade, let me say this: it’s Jewish if that’s how you feel about it!