Klezmer!: Jewish Music from Old World to Our World

by Henry Sapoznik

Overview

Klezmer! is the fascinating story of survival against the odds, of a musical legacy so potent it can still be heard dispite assimilation and near annihilation. The scratchy, distant sound of the early recordings discovered and studied by Henry Sapoznik have formed a soundtrack for an entirely new generation of performers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857125057
Publisher:	Schirmer Trade Books
Publication date:	08/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	303
Sales rank:	670,915
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Acknowledgments	xiii
	Yiddish Romanization and Civilization	xv
1	"In the Beginning...": The European Roots of Klezmer Music	1
2	"Lebn Zol Columbus": Yiddish Music in the New World	31
3	The Golden Age of Yiddish Popular Music	69
4	Yiddish Melodies in Swing: 1930s-1940s	117
5	"Twistin' the Freilachs"	159
6	From the Catskill Mountains to the Blue Ridge Mountains (and Back!)	177
7	Future and Past and Future	209
8	The Emperor's New Klez: The Future for a Music with a Past	243
9	The Sound Heard 'Round the World	273
Appendix I	Modes and Scales	293
Appendix II	Tants Nit, Yidelekh: Dance Music with No Dancers	299
	Notes	303
	Bibliography	309
	Glossary	314
	Index	317

Editorial Reviews

Scholar and musician Sapoznik (The Complete Klezmer) gives us the first complete history of the Jewish band music known as klezmer. Beginning in early 19th-century Poland--with a profile of Michael Joseph Gusikov, the grandfather of modern klezmer music--Sapoznik tracks its musical and cultural history in 19th-century Europe and 20th-century America. He shows how klezmer was influenced, in the United States, by such factors as bluegrass, swing, jazz, theater, music publishing, radio, and recording. He also highlights the contributions of such prominent musicians as George Gershwin, Paul Robeson, and Itzhak Perlman, all of whom had ties to klezmer. This is a laudable, important contribution to the history of Jewish music--and since klezmer is gaining in popularity today (paralleling a renewed interest in Yiddish culture), patrons interested in music or Jewish culture are likely to seek this book out. Recommended for academic and public libraries.--Kathleen Sparkman, Baylor Univ., Waco, TX Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

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