David Krakauer - 1995 - Klezmer Madness!

David Krakauer

1995

Klezmer Madness!

01. Africa Bulgar

02. Bocota Bulgar

03. A Few Bowls Terkish

04. At The Rabbi's Table

05. Doina / Death March Suite

06. Punky Dave

07. The Ballad Of Chernobyl

08. Gong Doina

09. Living With The Tune

10. Rachab

Accordion, Vocals – Michael Alpert

Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Producer – David Krakauer

Drums – David Licht

Guests:

Congas – Oscar Ortega

Guiro – Guillermo (Willie) Penate

Guitar – Adam Rogers

Timbales – Juan Ortega

Sampler [Keyboard Sampler] – Anthony Coleman

In the early 1990s, the New York underground music scene sprouted an avant garde movement of Jewish musicians dubbed "Radical Jewish Culture." Its development was a result, in no small part, of confronting the Nazis’ mass murder of European Jews, a history that the previous generations of survivors and immigrants had repressed.

With a profound knowledge of Yiddish musical heritage, the virtuousic Krakauer Trio combines the traditions of klezmer with innovative composition, arrangement and improvisation to create a style with reverence, imagination and a sense of humor.

Klezmer Madness features both traditional and original music, including tunes from the repertoire of klezmer clarinet greats Naftule Brandwine and Dave Tarras (check out Tarras' wonderful CD on Yazoo) and even John Zorn's Masada.

David Krakauer (clarinet, composer) combines the diverse influences of Jewish and Balkan clarinet styles, minimalism, jazz and shredded Muzak to create a style uniquely his own. He has performed and recorded with the Klezmatics and John Zorn as well as in numerous classical, chamber and avant-garde settings.

Michael Alpert (accordion, violin, guitar, vocals, original Yiddish compositions) is a member of the pioneering New York klezmer band Kapelye and the innovative European klezmer ensemble Brave Old World.

David Licht (drums, percussion) is a founding member of the Klezmatics and was also a founding member of the rock groups Shockabilly (with Eugene Chadbourne), Bongwater (with Ann Magnuson and Kramer) and When People Were Shorter And Lived Near The Water.

Radical Jewish Culture

In the early 1990s, the New York underground music scene sprouted an avant garde movement of Jewish musicians dubbed "Radical Jewish Culture." Its development was a result, in no small part, of confronting the Nazis’ mass murder of European Jews, a history that the previous generations of survivors and immigrants had repressed.

In April 1993 the Knitting Factory, a small nightclub in Lower Manhattan, hosted a five-day music festival titled “Radical New Jewish Culture.” This event was part of a multifaceted creative endeavor undertaken during the 1990s by composer/improvisers on New York City's downtown music scene and dubbed “Radical Jewish Culture” by its main protagonist, saxophonist John Zorn. RJC brought Jewish music and heritage into the purview of a polycultural experimentalist scene shaped by jazz, rock, free improvisation, and avant-garde concert music. Artists downtown also engaged in an animated “conversational community” that spilled over into interviews, program notes, liner notes, and essays. RJC was especially productive as a conceptual framework from which to interrogate the relationship between musical language and the semiotics of sound. Two pieces serve here as case studies: “¡Bnai!” an Israeli “pioneer song” as interpreted by the No Wave band G-d Is My Co-Pilot, and “The Mooche,” a Duke Ellington/Bubber Miley composition as interpreted by pianist Anthony Coleman's Selfhaters Orchestra.

"There is a life of tradition that does not merely consist of conservative preservation, the constant continuation of the spiritual and cultural possessions of a community. There is such a thing as a treasure hunt within tradition, which creates a living relationship to tradition and to which much of what is best in current jewish consciousness is indebted, even where it was and is expressed outside the framework of orthodoxy." Gershom Scholem

As the jewish people continue to grow into the 21st century, they carry their culture along with them. Tradition, history and the past have always played a strong role in the life of the jews but it is also important to think about the future. As we grow as a people, it seems natural that our culture should grow along with us. Just as jazz music has progressed from dixieland to free jazz and beyond in a few short decades, and classical music went from tonality to chromaticism, noise and back again, it has occurred to me that the same kind of growth should be possible and is perhaps essential for jewish music. Questions arose, as did the need to address them. The cds on the Radical Jewish Culture series is a first attempt at addressing some of these issues.

The series is an ongoing project. A challenge posed to adventurous musical thinkers. What is jewish music? What is its future? If asked to make a contribution to jewish culture, what would you do? Can jewish music exist without a connection to klezmer, cantorial or yiddish theatre? All of the cds on the tzadik RJC series address these issues through the vision and imagination of individual musical minds.

I do not and have never espoused the idea that any music a jew makes is jewish music, nor do I pretend to be the sole arbiter of what is jewish or what is not. There have been occasions when the jewish content of the music delivered has been unclear, or even non-existent. My role as executive producer in these instances has been to question the artist. If the answer is simply "I'm jewish this is what I'm doing that makes it jewish music" the project is rejected, returned to the artist to do with as they wish. If they can articulate a well thought out response and their sincerity and honesty is clear and unquestionable I go with it even if I don t entirely go with the program. Arguably, some projects have been more successful than others, but in retrospect all have been interesting, honest and worth repeated listening.

Sometimes the bone of contention is not the jewish content at all. This is, after all, the Radical Jewish Culture series. My commitment has always been to the experimental and the avant-garde. Tzadik does not release "all things jewish", and often I have had to reject projects on this basis as well, much to the consternation of the artist, who is told, perhaps for the first time in their life that the music is not out enough.

Much controversy and discussion has arisen over the Great Jewish Music series and on several occasions this has taken the form of a personal attack on me, my work, my sincerity and my integrity. Clearly the inclusion of music with no overt jewish content may seem out of place in a series dedicated to jewish music and it is very gratifying to experience the power the word (or the image) continues to exert on the human spirit. The operational word here is "music" if I had titled the series Great Jewish Composers perhaps there would have been no further discussion.

It seems important to mention that the name Radical Jewish Culture was chosen with serious deliberation. There is little question that the contributions of Franz Kafka, Mark Rothko, Albert Einstein, Walter Benjamin, Lenny Bruce and Steven Spielberg have all been embraced as central to jewish culture in the 20th century. The logical question that arises is is there jewish content in their work? Well, at times yes, at times no and in using the term "great jewish music" I am raising that question albeit a bit tongue-in-cheek, and not without a small tip of the hat to the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

The Great Jewish Music series is as much about jewish contribution to world culture Serge Gainsbourg in France, Jacob do Bandolim in Brasil, Sasha Argov in Israel as about any exposition of jewish culture. If I had titled the series accordingly perhaps we all would have been spared much of the polemical discussions and arguments and I might have been spared a few vituperative attacks. But as several good friends have said "if people are still arguing over these issues after 15 years, you must be doing something right" and I am content with that.

shalom.

john zorn