ISBN:
9780199995790
,
9780199314744
Language:
English
Pages:
IX, 302 Seiten
,
Illustrationen
Year of publication:
2013
Keywords:
Polen
;
Klezmer
;
Rezeption
;
Deutschland
Abstract:
In Klezmer’s Afterlife, Magdalena Waligórska seeks to prise open one of the most contentious topics in recent discourses on Jewish music: the widespread enthusiasm for and participation in contemporary klezmer music by (largely) non-Jewish Poles and Germans. Observing that previous literature exploring this topic, both popular and academic, has tended to focus on questions of legitimacy rather than explore the encounters and motivations of non-Jewish Polish and German musicians who engage with klezmer (p. 8), Waligórska lays out an admirably detailed historical and social context for the contemporary revival of pre-Holocaust east European Jewish music in Poland and Germany, and explores the place of klezmer music in identity conversations, both individual and national, based upon a comprehensive series of interviews with musicians in Berlin and Krakow undertaken during 2004–8. This is a book about discourse. Early chapters reflect on the ‘appropriation’ of ethnically coded music and the representation of Jews in the klezmer scene; the second part of the book turns to particularly highly charged issues, including the politics of memory, the negotiation of individual identities, and the role of non-Jewish musicians ‘standing in’ for absent ethnic Jews during performance events. The inclusion of substantial interview segments and the careful pulling apart of threads of discourse—from a redemptive, inclusive view of klezmer to complex feelings of guilt—enrich the discussion, as well as inviting wider comparison with outsider involvement in other ‘ethnic’ music scenes. Particularly refreshing is the way that issues of identity and post-Holocaust memory are explored within a European—primarily Polish—frame of discourse, whose configurations sometimes implicitly challenge the models of multiculturalism and plural identities often assumed in American and western European settings. Waligórska also helpfully differentiates between identity discourses in Poland, where the klezmer scene accompanied a general revival of interest in things Jewish, and Germany, where much of the memory work was done before klezmer rose to popularity (p. 275).
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
URL:
http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=026119718&sequence=000004&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA
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