 KLEZMER |
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Although today klezmer music can be heard all over the world in concert halls, at festivals, and at special Jewish family events like birthdays or bas mitzves) it has old roots. Eastern European (Ashkenazic) Jews have played and danced to klezmer since the 1500s - primarily during the one day to two week period of a traditional wedding.
(For wonderful essays on all of the below topics see The Compleat Klezmer folio, Klezmer 1910-1942 and Bessarabian Symphony, from which some of these notes are summarized)
The word klezmer comes from the Hebrew "kley" (instrument) and "zemer" (song). It denotes both the type of music, and the musician who plays it (although until recent times, the term implied that the musician had only a limited, provincial repertoire.)
The music comes from several sources. Eastern European forms were adapted from Rumania, Rom (Gypsy), Polish, Hungarian and other cultures. Folk songs of Jewish and gentile origin found their way into the klezmer repertoire. So did dance. And before the 20th century, most ordinary Jews heard and sang liturgical music every day. It was heard in the daily prayers chanted in shul (synagogue), or in the khazones (cantorial music) sung by a cantor engaged by wealthier congretations to sing for the High Holy Days. Hasidic Jews who journeyed to theirRebe (rabbi, leader) would singnigunin (melodies) he composed, or at home onshabes (the Sabbath). Khazones and nigunim are important influences in klezmer.
Of course, since Biblical times, Jews have lived and traveled in many lands...by choice, trade or force...and both sang, played and adapted what they heard. In Eastern Europe, Jews had every day commerce with gentiles in the market square and other commerce and so were exposed to European languages and cultures. Many of these influences are evident in language (in Yiddish there are Slavic [vs. German] grammatical constructions and specific words)... in food (borsht, stuffed cabbage, etc.)...and in music. Klezmorim were "engaged" to play for peasants or gentry and so learned non-Jewish repertoire and played it for their landsmen (countrymen) when they returned home. Klezmorim who made it through their long military service to the Tsar of Russia returned home with a cache of military tunes sometimes having learned new (specifically, brass) instruments........
When was and is klezmer music played?
As today klezmer was played at many different events but especially those surrounding a wedding (khasene). Before the wedding there was a khosnmol, a kind of bachelor party. At the wedding itself the klezmer musician would aid and abet thebadkn (wedding M.C.) in the kale baveynen (making the bride cry). The bride would also be seated (kale bazetzn) to a similar soulful solo piece with continuo by the rest of the kapelye (band). The mother-in-laws would do a bit of psychodrama to a broyges tantz (dance of anger, where they would symbolically fight and make up). When it was time to dance, there were all manner of dance tunes. As the evening wore down, there would be quieter songs and maybe even a song hinting it was time to go home. The inlaws would be escorted through the streets before and after the wedding with a hora (e.g. firn di mekhetonom aheym most recently covered by Itzak Perlman, and given a classic rendition by the clarinetist legend Naftule Brandwein in Klezmer 1910-1942). A week after the wedding was another party (the sheve brokhes).
Later when a son was born, klezmorim might be engaged to play at his bris (circumcision); likewise, at a Torah dedication. Klezmorim also played on market days, at fairs, and at spas.
Nowadays, klezmer is still played at such events, although in non-Hasidic weddings (many Hasidic weddings today do maintain the traditional European customs) it is usually played just to accompany dancing. In a 20th century twist, klezmer is sometimes played atbas and bar mitzves (the Jewish event marking the coming of age of boys, and today, girls that occurs in synagogue. Traditionally, the affair was very low key: the boy went to shul and recited his haftorah and Torah portions, was acknowledged afterwards with a little shnaps and spongecake by the other men and maybe received a watch as a present and then went home)
Today, klezmer concerts (without dancing!) are common whether on the concert stage, at a town fair, or in a bar (people have been known to dance at such concerts, however!) Special klezmer and Yiddish culture weeks have been around for 10 or more years, noteably, Living Tradition's KlezKamp (East and West), Canada's KlezKanada, and the Canadian Ashkenaz as well as many other Yiddish conferences sponsored by universities and organizations such as the Workmens Circle/Arbeter Ring.
Musical forms or types ...............
As we've seen much of klezmer music is closely allied to dance. Typically, most of the tunes were strung together in long 30+ minute sets. Individual forms are:
Khusidl or chosid: a kind of walking piece in 4/4 of Hasidic origin which invites embellishment.
Hora or zhok: from Romania. The first and last beats of each (3/8) measure of this slowish piece are accented, also inviting embellishment. It is often used following a doyne or escorting relatives to and from home at a wedding (e.g. a gasn nign literally, a street tune).
Doyne: this form isn't a dance, but rather a contemplative, emotional piece showcasing the musician's mastery and feeling. Derived from the Romanian shepard song, it is immediately followed by a piece that changes tempo and mood like a hora or freylekhs. Fine examples of doynes are played by the flutist S. Kosch recorded in 1910 on "Klezmer Music 1910-1942" clarinetist Dave Tarras on "Master of Klezmer Music, Volume 1", Mihal Vitazul playing a trumpet doyne on "Klezmer Pioneers"etc.
Similarly, a fantzi is a listening piece.
Freylekh or bulgar: is an uptempo dance in 8/8 often in two or three parts. The first, fourth, and 7th beats are accented giving the piece and the dancers a forward motion. (Freylekh is the Yiddish word for happy)
Sirba, also Romanian, is another uptempo dance in 2/4 with, per Josh Horowitz, an underlying 6/8 rhythm.
Kolomeyke is a fast Ukrainian dance with two strong beats at the end of a phrase.
Sher is a Russian couples dance (literally "scissors") in 4/4.
For excellent essays on the history, forms and context of klezmer see Henry Sapoznik's The Compleat Klezmer, the liner notes to the cassette version of Klezmer Music 1910-1942 (written by Sapoznik, Walter Lev Feldman, Andy Statman), those by Josh Horowitz prefacing Budowitz' Mother Tongue, Michael Alpert's notes in Leon Schwartz' "Like in a Different World", Klezmer Music, A Marriage of Heaven and Earth, and Sapoznik's collections of the clarinetists Dave Tarras & Naftule Brandwein.
Instrumentation ............
Early klezmer ensembles were string-dominated. In some areas this was because Jews were not allowed to play loud music! Typically, a violin would be the lead instrument, with perhaps another violin or viola playing secunda. (2nd fiddle, playing a rhythmic accompaniment and harmony). The violin-fidl, as an expressive instrument capable of imitating human singing remained favored by Jews until the 1920s. By then, with more musical opportunities both in the U.S. and Europe (read less discrimination), and immigration quotas in the U.S. cutting the flow of European musicians (and consumers who remembered the European style), fiddlers who might have played klezmer opted for classical.
A tsimbl, a type of large hammered dulcimer which appeared in Jewish groups in central Europe in the 1500s and eastern in the 1600s was quite popular. It played both solo and rhythmic roles until the turn of the 20th century.
The clarinet appeared in Eastern Europe around the mid 1800s. At first its style copied that of the flute and fiddle, but later came into its own because, like the fiddle, it had the capacity to express emotion as the voice does, and had a wide note and dynamic range. At the turn of this century, with the advent of recording, the clarinet dominated the violin because of its sheer loudness and thus ease of recording. (Early recordings utilized a horn, not a microphone). Today, the clarinet remains the lead instrument in many kapelyes, although fiddles are making a strong comeback.
The Russian draft had its effect on klezmer ... introducing Jewish musicians to brass instruments like the cornet and trombone. By the end of the 1900s, a band might be over 10 pieces large.
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