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How embarrassing is this? Almost a hundred blog entries, four of
which relate to Christmas, and not a word about Jewish music. It's
not like my people don't have music; we do. And some of it is every
bit as appalling as that stuff we hear in shopping malls every
December. (And November. And sometimes late October. But I
digress.)
I first heard The Klezmatics on a public radio show called
West Coast Live, where they made regular appearances. And I
knew their name came from something called a klezmer, although I was
under the impression it was some kind of musical instrument. On the
off chance that you're as ignorant as I, let's get that one
straightened out. Klezmer isn't an instrument; it's a style. A
contraction of "klei zemer" (musical instruments), it refers
to a mix of Greek and Central and Eastern European music played at
Jewish celebrations. It's dance music, of a particularly lively and
unsubtle kind. Think of it as Jewish jazz and you won't be far off.
I like ethnic music, at least in concept. (And generally in
small doses.) Maybe that's what bugs me about Christmas music, that
it isn't different enough. Challenging enough. Klezmer is certainly
both.
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