Feldman beschreibt, wie er seine Generation
im jüdischen Amerika wahrnimmt und wieso
seinesgleichen plötzlich die vergrabenen
Traditionen wieder ans Licht holen
wollten:
“It is
difficult for our generation to understand
the paranoia and fear of the older Jews
here, but their passion to assimilate
is obvious. Then there was the trauma
of the Holocaust, which weighed on me
and others like me. It is interesting
to me to observe that the Armenians
had the opposite reactions. As soon
as they achieved some security they
set about playing as much Armenian music
as possible. No camouflage or excuses.
But the Jews were not like that. Then
again the Yiddish theatre was the great
enemy of klezmer because it caused us
to ridicule the past (...) Some people
in my generation worked through their
involvement with other musics and eventually
looked up, saw the SS was no where in
sight, didn't feel at home in Israel,
and didn't think the past was laughable.
We also noticed that Jews were visible,
so why pretend we are invisible?”
Feldman war mit traditioneller
jüdischer Musik in seiner Familie aufgewachsen.
Als er aber Mitte der siebziger Jahre
Statman traf, fiel beiden auf, daß sie
von niemandem wußten, der diese alte Musik
noch öffentlich spielte. Sie trafen die
bewußte Entscheidung, etwas gegen das
Aussterben ihrer eigenen kulturellen Traditionen
zu unternehmen. Ihre erste Quelle waren
wie bei The Klezmorim die
alten Schellackplatten. Eine europäische
Aufnahme eines Geigen- und Zimbl Duos
hat ihre Herangehensweise an die Musik
besonders geprägt. Sie wollten Klezmer-Musik
möglichst unverfälscht und trotzdem zeitgemäß
wiederbeleben:
“We were
drawn to this music because of its emotional
depths, which finds expression both
in well-structured melodies and in a
distinctive performance style, including
instrumental tone, variations in phrasing,
ornaments, and rhythm. Our aim has been
to produce music that is both authentic
and alive.” (Feldman 1979)
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