Grisman & statman's jewish melodies cd's - great !

[RB250]

Bought "Songs of our Fathers" and "New Shabbos Waltz" on Acoustic Disc and have to recommend them to everyone. Timeless melodies performed by two masters on wonderful vintage instruments. Like Choro, you don't have to be brazilian....or Jewish to appreciate Klezmer or prayer melodies put to mando music. Reminds me of Classic Xmas music that we all love no matter what your persuasion.

But if you are Jewish (and there are alot of us from the 60's folk scare that became bluegrass freeks, etc and still are), and spent time in a temple back then or now where the prayers were still in the classic melodies (not the reformed nonsense you hear today) , then these CD's will be a treat, not to mention the great Klezmer music. And you may want to buy copies for your parents (assuming they're still alive!!). Of course you may have to throw in a CD player if they never got one!
According to Ralph Rinzler(I believe as reported in Rosenberg's bluegrass book), who used to manage Monroe; Bill asked him, "Don't you people have your own music" (refering to Rinzler being Jewish). Alot of us finally did rediscover our musical roots including Klezmer and alot of great Eastern european musicians recently immigrating to big cities (playing around town, not necesarrily on CD's). Anyway's thanks to Acoustic Disc and check it out.
RB250

[swampstomper]

No, that famous quote was by Tommy Jarrell to Harry Saponzik. The encounter is described by Timothy Josiah Morris Pertz in his Harvard undergraduate honours dissertation of a few years ago "The Jewgrass Boys":

"Hank Sapoznik, who began learning banjo in New York City in the mid-1960s,
remembers the fateful trip he took down to Mt. Airy, North Carolina in 1977 to visit
legendary old-time fiddler Tommy Jarrell:

"At one point he had been making breakfast, and I was a vegetarian at the time and he was making
you know, bacon, eggs fried in bacon fat and probably the coffee had a bacon base. I wasn't eating
any of this stuff and Tommy is pushing it on me, ‘Come on Hank! Eat up,' more like a Jewish
mother than a southern fiddler. And I wasn' eating this stuff and at one point he goes, ‘Come on Hank, what are you? A damned Jew?!!’" [301]

"Sapoznik replied that, yes, he was a damned Jew. Jarrell seemed taken aback, and
after a few minutes of trying to clear the air, asked, “Hank, don’t your people got none of
your own music?” [302] "

References:
301
Hank Sapoznik, quoted in Mark Rubin, “Henry ‘Hank’ Sapoznik Interview” [online]
http://www.tepel.org/articles/sapoznik.html Accessed 10 February 2005. #
302
Hank Sapoznik, “Play Me Some (Carpathian) Mountain Music,” Jewish Forward, 19 November 1999.
[online] http://www.forward.com/issues/1999/99.11.19/arts2.html.

(By the way, I disagree with much of this thesis, but this quote seems well-documented.)

BIll Monroe did introduce Gene Lowinger affectionately as "the first Jewish cowboy" until Gene asked him to stop (this is indeed in one of the biographies, I think R D Smith, sorry can't find it now). Mon was thrilled that northern city boys were following his music so well that they could play in his band.

[Danny Packer]

What stands out for me on the New Shabbos Waltz album is Statman's clarinet. If you have ever wondered why people rave about Andy's musicianship, give this album a listen. It sends shivers up my spine.

Danny

[JEStanek]

I'll second RB250's recomendation. I have Songs of our Father (not New Shabbos Waltz yet). This really is good and powerful music. Andy and David are tremendous and toghether they just click. This music is approachable to open ears.

Jamie

[El Greco]

To me, the melodies in these Grisman/Statman collaborations are very similar to a lot of Greek tunes as well. Jewish songs and tunes certainly date back a long, long time and Jewish people certainly have their own music. Got to love Monroe's remark too. It shows just how authenticly "new world" American he was.

[mythicfish]

""Sapoznik replied that, yes, he was a damned Jew. Jarrell seemed taken aback, and
after a few minutes of trying to clear the air, asked, “Hank, don’t your people got none of
your own music?” [302] "


" ... and that's what I like about the South..."

[Danny Packer]

Klezmer overlaps a lot with Greek and Turkish (and other) music. Check out Veretski Pass. They have some Tartar jewish music. Klezmorim in Eastern Europe often played with Roma musicians, and others, the the musical scene is a bit of a stew. Last year at the school I work at we had Josh Horowitz and Budowitz do a demo where they showed how the same tune gets morphed from a Jewish idiom to a Hungarian folk idiom. Great stuff. Happy Hanukah.

Danny

ps: personal preference -- I think New Shabbos Waltz is way better than Songs of our Fathers.

[otterly2k]

FWIW--
I do love the albums mentioned, and Klezmer in general, in part b/c of the overlap with other Eastern European (and other world music) threads...

AND - I need to say that this represents only Ashkenazic musical traditions. #Yep, it's my roots too... but I have learned to look for and really appreciate that there are Jewish musics that are very different from this. #Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewish music (like Sephardic Jewish foods) traveled a different cultural paths and are very different from Klezmer. #Heck, I recently encountered a really amazing recording of music of Ugandan Jews (Abayudayah) that just blew me away... to hear the familiar liturgy in Hebrew (with a strong Ugandan accent) set to very African melodies, harmonies and forms - well it just went really deep for me.

[Danny Packer]

Karen,

Is that Ugandan music on an album? #I'd love to hear it. #One of the reasons I love Statman's clarinet is because he taps into the spititual essence of the music so thoroughly. #What other klez music are you listening too these days?

danny

[EggerRidgeBoy]

Karen,

Is that Ugandan music on an album? #I'd love to hear it. #One of the reasons I love Statman's clarinet is because he taps into the spititual essence of the music so thoroughly. #What other klez music are you listening too these days?

danny
Not to answer for Karen, but I do know of a few CDs of Ugandan Jewish music:

"Abayudaya: Music From the Jewish People of Uganda", from Smithsonian Folkways:

http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=3005

It is also available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Abayuda....00CDL6K (http://www.amazon.com/Abayudaya-Music-Jewish-People-Uganda/dp/B0000CDL6K)

"Sing For Joy: Abayudaya Jews"

http://www.amazon.com/Sing-Joy-Abayudaya-Jews-Uganda/dp/B000PMG1LK


There has been some research in recent years on the Abayudaya - I've come across some papers and articles on their history, customs, and music, such as this one:

Music of Worship and Celebration among the Abayudaya (Jewish People) of Uganda
Jeffrey A. Summit, Tufts University

The Abayudaya, a community of approximately 600 Bantu people living in villages surrounding Mbale in Eastern Uganda, live as practicing Jews. Many members scrupulously follow Jewish ritual, observe the laws of the Sabbath, celebrate Jewish holidays, keep kosher and pray in Hebrew. This community self-converted to Judaism in 1919 and originally constructed their Jewish practice and liturgy in contra-distinction to Christian missionary activity and British political rule. Presently, their contact with North American Jewry is increasing and the Abayudaya are incorporating Ashkenazi chant and melodies and contemporary American Jewish music into their liturgy. At the same time, many members of their community compose liturgical and celebratory music in styles influenced by Christian churches in Uganda and Kenya and styles of East African popular music. In this paper, I examine the Abayudaya's strategic process of choosing and composing liturgical music as they standardize their own liturgical practice and position themselves in relation to Jewish communities in North America and Israel.