|
The Klezmorim, founded in Berkeley, California, in 1975, was the world's first klezmer revival band, widely credited with spearheading the global renaissance of klezmer (Eastern European Yiddish instrumental music) in the 1970s and '80s.〔Thompson, Suzy R., "The Klezmorim," in McGovern, Adam (ed.), ''musicHound World'', Visible Ink, 2000, ISBN 978-1-57859-039-1, p. 398.〕〔Pekar, Harvey, and Rudahl, Sharon, "Klezmer," in Pekar, Harvey, & Paul Buhle, (ed.), ''Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land''. Abrams ComicArts, New York, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8109-9749-3, p. 221: "During the late 1970s, klezmer began making a comeback, led by The Klezmorim, a West Coast group."〕〔Strom, Yale, ''The Book of Klezmer'', A Capella, Chicago, 2002, ISBN 1-55652-445-5, pp. 208–209.〕 Initially featuring flute and strings—notably the exotic fiddling of co-founder David Skuse—the ensemble reorganized into a "loose, roaring, funky"〔 brass/reed/percussion band fronted by co-founder Lev Liberman's saxophones and founding member David Julian Gray's clarinets. As a professional performing and recording ensemble focused on recreating the lost sounds of early 20th century klezmer bands, The Klezmorim achieved crossover success, garnering a Grammy nomination in 1982 for their album ''Metropolis'' and selling out major concert venues across North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall (twice in 1983) and L'Olympia in Paris.〔"La klezmer qu'on voit danser," ''Le Matin'', Paris, France, 1987-03-23.〕 The band performed steadily until 1993, regrouping in 2004 for a European tour. ==Venues and Audiences== The Berkeley, California street-busking duo of violinist David Skuse and flutist Lev Liberman grew in 1975 (with the addition of David Julian Gray, Laurie Chastain, and Gregory Carageorge) into a Balkan/Yiddish party and wedding quintet known briefly as the Sarajevo Folk Ensemble. Making their public debut as The Klezmorim in two concerts at the Berkeley Public Library in April 1976, the musicians soon landed a monthly gig at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse.〔Rogovoy, Seth, ''The Essential Klezmer''. Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, 2000, ISBN 1-56512-244-5, pp. 77-78.〕 There they were discovered by folklorist and record producer Chris Strachwitz (himself a former refugee from Central Europe), who signed the band to Arhoolie Records and began recording them in the studio.〔Kelp, Larry, "Klezmorim bringing ethnic dance music to Berkeley." ''Oakland Tribune'', Oakland, California, 1980-01-02, p. B-7.〕 Failing to connect with the organized Jewish community—which at the time regarded The Klezmorim's unique repertoire of long-forgotten Yiddish instrumental tunes as disturbingly alien—the band made its initial reputation performing at mainstream public venues such as folk clubs and dance halls.〔Rogovoy, Seth, ''The Essential Klezmer''. Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, 2000, ISBN 1-56512-244-5, pp. 77–78, 80.〕 By 1979, with two record albums (''East Side Wedding'' and ''Streets of Gold'') receiving airplay on listener-sponsored and college radio stations, The Klezmorim had embarked on a rigorous touring schedule,〔 disseminating their groundbreaking concept〔Slobin, Mark, review of album ''East Side Wedding'' in ''Ethnomusicology'', Bloomington, Indiana, 1978-05, p. 392.〕 and repertoire throughout North America and inspiring a second wave of klezmer bands like Kapelye and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.〔Birnbaum, Larry. ''Downbeat'', 1983-01, p. 40: "The Klezmorim rekindled nationwide interest in the traditional genre… and prompted the formation of several new bands, including Boston's Klezmer Conservatory Band and New York's Kapelye."〕〔Thompson, Suzy R., "The Klezmorim," in McGovern, Adam (ed.), ''musicHound World'', Visible Ink, 1999, ISBN 978-1-57859-039-1, p. 398.〕 For the next decade and more, The Klezmorim spent half of each year on the road, attracting sellout crowds to appearances at universities,〔Hinckley, David, "Klezmer, with a beat you can dance to." ''New York Daily News'', New York, NY, 1983-02-13: "One of the hottest groups on the college concert circuit."〕 concert halls, cabarets, and music festivals. Ticket sales were boosted by same-day live radio or TV broadcasts, or by unannounced appearances on streetcorners and in public plazas – which were sometimes, to the band's amusement, broken up by the police. Over time, The Klezmorim's prankish humor and spontaneous banter evolved into a semi-polished show inspired by the theatrically excessive Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The Klezmorim acknowledged their own street-busker roots in a series of collectively written minimalist stage spectacles melding New Vaudeville with agitprop, evoking the social turmoil that propelled 19th-century Eastern European klezmer musicians into jazz-age America.〔Thompson, Suzy R., "The Klezmorim," in McGovern, Adam (ed.), ''musicHound World'', Visible Ink, 2000, ISBN 978-1-57859-039-1, pp. 398–399.〕 A Parisian reviewer described the act as "a voyage on a Hell-bound train from Poland to Brooklyn via Mississippi which leaves the audience thunderstruck."〔Feldstein, Monique, "Yiddish jazz band." ''Le Matin'', Paris, France, 1985-11-12, translated from French.〕 The band members called it "a fast-moving, surreal cabaret revue... Vaudeville meets the Twilight Zone"〔MacDonald, Patrick, "Klezmer band offers lively, syncopated blend of styles." ''Seattle Times'', Seattle, Washington, 1985-02-01, p. T16.〕 and admitted to borrowing dramatic riffs from Grand Guignol, Kabuki theatre, tent revival meetings, protest rallies, and Betty Boop cartoons.〔Rogovoy, Seth. ''The Essential Klezmer''. Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, 2000, ISBN 1-56512-244-5, pp. 80–81.〕 The Klezmorim's rowdy genre-bending reached its peak in a 1983 collaboration with The Flying Karamazov Brothers, appearing jointly as a juggling/klezmer supergroup at Stanford University and San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts.〔Weiner, Bernard, "A Night of Wild Fun, Music and Madness." ''San Francisco Chronicle'', San Francisco, California, 1983-12-19, p. 45.〕 "Rogueish swagger"〔Nat Hentoff, review of album ''Streets of Gold''. ''The Nation'', New York, NY, 1979.〕 aside, The Klezmorim were serious musicians who rehearsed rigorously〔Jacobsen, Marion, "Newish, Not Jewish", in Slobin, Mark (ed.), ''American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots'', University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002, ISBN 0-520-22718-2, p. 192.〕 and broke through formidable barriers in championing their obscure genre. Rejecting the music establishment's tendency to pigeonhole them as a "folk" or "ethnic" act, The Klezmorim asserted that they could play for anybody, anywhere,〔Steinblatt, Jim, "Klezmorim spearhead revival of Jewish soul music." ''Jewish World'', Long Island, NY, 1982-11-05.〕〔Sloane, Cliff, "All That Jewish Jazz." ''City Pages'', Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, 1982-06-17, p. 23.〕 without commercializing their vintage musical style. They did attract a mixed bag of fans including devotees of classical music, jazz, musical theatre, world music, and avant-garde performance art. Their audiences spanned the spectrum of demographic diversity, including small children, "screaming teenaged girls,"〔Ferraro, Susan, "The Clamor for Klezmer." ''American Way'', 1983-07, p. 56〕 prison inmates, "college students and white-collar workers in their 20s and 30s,"〔Holliday, Andrea, "Revive old world sound for students." ''Herald'', Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1981-04-15.〕 Jews, African-Americans, and Indian people.〔Jacobsen, Marion, "Newish, Not Jewish," in Slobin, Mark (ed.), ''American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots'', University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002, ISBN 0-520-22718-2, p. 195.〕 The Klezmorim's artistic credibility was secured by two standing-room-only concerts at Carnegie Hall in February 1983.〔Shepard, Richard F., "Klezmer Music Makes Leap to Carnegie Hall." ''New York Times'', New York, NY, 1983-02-18, p. C1.〕〔Ferraro, Susan, "The Clamor for Klezmer." ''American Way'', 1983-07, p. 57: "Next stop? Carnegie Hall... The Klezmorim passed, with standing ovations and two encores."〕〔Stuart, Mark, "Klezmer Music Reaches Promised Land." ''The Record'', Bergen County, New Jersey, 1983-02-28: "...six young men from the West Coast came to Carnegie Hall to play two concerts... I saw scalpers hustling tickets outside... The hall was not only full. It was jumping. From the opening number... The Klezmorim had the audience stamping its feet, clapping its hands, shouting bravos, finally dancing in the aisles even though the house lights had gone on."〕〔''Variety'', New York, NY, 1983-04-13, p. 89.〕 Throughout the 1980s, the band pursued media exposure through public radio broadcasts and appearances on television variety shows. Soundtracks or onscreen roles in documentaries, plays,〔Weiss, Jason, ("The Klezmorim" (interview) ), retrieved 2012-02-27. ''Jazz Forum'', Warsaw, Poland, Issue 99, 1986-04.〕 and films〔 helped The Klezmorim achieve recognition as upstart contributors to popular culture. The San Francisco rock glitterati honored the ensemble with Bammy Award nominations in 1978, '79, and '84,〔''BAM Magazine'', San Francisco, California, 1978-12-15, 1980-02-01, 1985-03-15.〕 a distinction echoed when the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences nominated The Klezmorim's album ''Metropolis'' for a Grammy Award.〔Cohen, Mark, "The Klezmorim: Barrel Full of Musical Monkeys." ''Daily Californian'', Berkeley, California, 1985-03-01, p. 11.〕 By the mid-1980s, the band had been discovered by jazz aficionados and rock'n'rollers on both sides of the Atlantic.〔Hadley, Frank-John, four-star review of album ''Notes From Underground''. ''Downbeat'', Chicago, Illinois, 1985-03, p. 35.〕〔Edwards, M.C., "Klezmorim: Hey, They're Really Hot!" ''Twin Cities Reader'', Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, 1983-06-15, p. 30: "...a street-level energy reckless and honest... When The Klezmorim take their show on the road, they play to sell-out crowds at concerts and festivals around the world... young music makers and fans are sparked with fascination for the wild, rowdy klezmer synthesis... that even a diehard new waver can live with."〕〔''L.A. Weekly'', Los Angeles, California, 1986: "The Klezmorim have attracted middle-aged theatergoer types, punk rockers, jazz musicians, little kids — you name it. In Amsterdam and Paris, where their records are aired on rock stations, they've had crowds dancing in the streets."〕 European audiences, approaching klezmer music via familiarity with Romani musicians and traveling circus acts, responded to The Klezmorim's street-party vibe〔Kelp, Larry, review. ''Oakland Tribune'', Oakland, California, 1982-03-21, p. H29: "...direct link to Eastern European brass band music of the early 1900s... the Klezmorim's usual party atmosphere."〕—particularly in The Netherlands, Germany, and France, where the band headlined at jazz festivals and achieved minor popstardom.〔''VSD'', Paris, France, 1987-03-19, p. v, translated from French: "The Klezmorim, famed FM-radio cult heroes (and bastard offspring of jazz and central European Jewish music)..."〕〔Article "Heiter schluchzt eine Klarinette." ''Berliner Morgenpost'', Berlin, West Germany, 1986-11-01, translated from German: "It's The Klezmorim! Giorgio Carioti of Quasimodo scored a coup when he booked the dazzling California group into his cellar club... They play with wit, verve, and joy. The Klezmorim are an overwhelming experience."〕 In France, Belgium, and Switzerland (and occasionally in California), the band performed entire concerts speaking in French.〔Elwood, Philip, "Their Old World music has a growing new world of fans." ''San Francisco Examiner'', San Francisco, California, 1986-02-23, p. S2.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Klezmorim」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|