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• JCCEB

7:30 pm- 9:30 pm Mon, Feb 11, 2013

Feb. 7 & 11: Veretski Pass Lecture/Demo Series

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JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut St., Berkeley, CA

Registration:
$15 for each session or $25 for both

In collaboration with Lehrhaus Judaica

Two in-depth demonstrations by an internationally renown trio that highlights Jewish music from the land where the Ottoman East met Europe.

February 7th: Klezmer & Hazzones
The relationship of klezmer music and Hazzones (Hazzanut – cantorial singing) is one of mutual exchange. Hazzones makes use of klezmer motives and gestures and klezmer music uses liturgical prayers and modulations. Because klezmer music is seemingly more tolerant of change and quicker to absorb it, and because its functions are more widespread than the prayer function of hazzones, the process of transformation occurs in an elliptical fashion. The promiscuity that klezmer music exhibits in accepting musical gestures from outside of Jewish culture also presents unique problems in the Jewish music field. This lecture will show in detail how klezmer music transforms cantorial gestures into its own framework and how cantors respond to this process.

February 11th: Busting the Myth of the Klezmer Revival
What we call “klezmer music” today differs radically from what it was 100 years ago. Since the mid 1990s, stylistically specific music has been introduced into the klezmer scene from the regions of Hungarian-influenced Maramures, and Kalotaszeg – regions that had perhaps little to do with what we used to call “klezmer.” Following the lead of the Táncház movement of Hungary, first non-Jews, then Jews began to redefine what were formerly considered the stylistic and repertoire parameters of klezmer music. In this lecture we contextualize these processes historically and then pose questions as to what is accurate in the relationship between the promotion and actual content of the music of the participants in order to distinguish truth from hype. The lecture will explore processes common to many types of music in today’s landscape with the hope of understanding the mechanisms that serve to alter musical styles over time.