[78-L] Newspeak (was:Racially Offensive Language/Robeson)

[Michael Shoshani]

On Sun, 1/25/09, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:


> Then suddenly in the mid-80s there was a documentary on PBS
> about Henry Sapoznik and several musical groups and this mystery word
> Klezmer shows up over and over for the first time.   What was wrong with
> the word Freileich  which we already knew???  

I have a vinyl pressing of "A Fiddler Oyfn Dakh", the Israeli Yiddish production of "Fiddler On The Roof".  In the scene where Tevye feigns a dream to persuade his wife to reconsider her choice of groom for their daughter, he describes a wedding scene - a description that culminates with "und KLEZMER!" as two pizzicato notes are plucked for emphasis.

That fits the original meaning of "klezmer", which comes from a somewhat ungrammatical Hebrew "kley zemer", or "vessels of music". Strictly speaking, "klezmer" described the MUSICIANS - not the music itself, which tended to be very festive and merry, hence its name "freilich" which means exactly that.

There is a Duke Ellington record that originally came out on 78 (how's that for topic-skimming?) called "Are You Sticking", in which Barney Bigard wails his clarinet in a manner eerily similar to that of Klezmer. Being from New Orleans, Bigard played Albert System clarinet, which was also the weapon of choice for authentic Klezmer in America.

Michael Shoshani
Chicago
"It Ain't Worth Two Spits If It Don't Make You Shvitz"