______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.262 March 4, 1994 1) Purim (Sheldon Benjamin) 2) A Purim lid (Marnen Laibow-Koser) 3) "Klezmer" (Hope Ehn) 4) Feygele (Irene Glasser) 5) "Eklet" (Dan Kirschner) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 1 19:04:09 1994 From: sbenj@MIT.EDU Subject: PURIM In mayn bobe's shtetl in vays rusland, ven men hobn gegangen fun hoys tsu hoys oyfn Purim, hot men gezogt: Haynt iz purim, Morgn iz oys, Gib mir a nedove un varft mir aroys! PS: Hello Meyshke A. & welcome to Mendele Sheldon Benjamin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Mar 1 22:02:24 1994 From: laibow@brick.purchase.edu (Marnen Laibow-Koser ) Subject: A purim lid Dvosye Bilik: If you're asking what goes where the dashes are in the Purim song you posted, I'm almost certain it's something like "Haynt iz Purim, morgn iz oys". Shalom, Marnen Laibow-Koser 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 2 01:15:29 1994 From: Subject: "Klezmer" I would like to put on my musicological hat and respond to the suggestion that the term "klezmer" is only an excuse to avoid using the J-word. Klezmer music is only one kind of Jewish music--to me, "klezmer" is a legitimate term indicating both a kind of repertory and a style of playing it. There are many kinds of Jewish music, and only some of them appear in the klezmer repertory. My response to a mention of a concert of "Jewish music" would be "What kind of Jewish music?" Without more information, I wouldn't have any idea what to expect! The area of "Jewish music" is extremely broad. Even if one confines the topic to folk music, excluding both "classical" compositions from Salamone to Bernstein and synagogue music, there are still many repertories wwhich aren't really "Klezmer" music, even if a piece or two should find its way into the performances of a Klezmer band. The best-known of the other folk musics are probably the Ladino repertory (known in the early music world as "Sephardic music") and the Yemenite. (Ofra Haza has popularized elements of Yemenite Jewish music.) But there are many others, from groups all over the world--Iranian, Bukharan, Ethiopian, Indian, etc.. In addition, there are many kinds of Israeli music--the songs of the pioneers (which seem to be melodically influenced by Russian folk music), contemporary Hebrew popular song (i.e., the songs of Naomi Shemer), and even Israeli rock, which sometimes sounds melodically "Jewish" in the manner of Yiddish folk music. The Klezmer repertory is an outgrowth of the Jewish experience in eastern Europe. In its European incarnation, it included both Jewish (Synagogue modes and hassidic compositions) and non-Jewish (local folk music) influences, which were blended in traditional Yiddish folk music. These were joined in the late 19th century by music from the earkt Yiddish theater. Once Yiddish theater had become established, its music became a permanent part of the Klezmer repertory. There is also a specifically American component--the stylistic influence of jazz, ragtime, and other popular music of the 1920's and 1930's. In the Yiddish theater composers of the 1920's through the 1940's, all sorts of ecelctic influences appear. For instance, Shalom Secunda's song "Mein Yiddishe Meydele" is actually a tango! The suggestion that as a general rule, the term "Klezmer" was only a way to avoid the J-word seems odd to me, given that the word seems to have had negative connotations in some cases. In some areas of eastern Europe, klezmer musicians seems to have been peripatetic players traveling from one ill-paid gig to another, much like gypsies. It would appear that some people viewed a "klezmer" as barely better than a beggar. For instance, it is said that Leonard Bernstein's father didn't want his son to become a "klezmer." I don't suppose that he would have applied that term to the conductor of the New York Philharmonic! I don't think I have ever met anyone, Jew or gentile, who thought that the Klezmer repertory was anything but Jewish. "Some of my best friends" are WASPS who play Klezmer music! Hope Ehn 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 2 09:13:37 1994 From: GLASSER@ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU Subject: feygele I would just like to further comment, that the bird/flying term for homosexual also pertains to Spanish..the most common I have heard is mariposa (butterfly) but in thPuerto Rican community, pato (duck) is very common. This extends to sneezing (in an obvious fake way) when someone who appears effeminate is around, and I have even seen people giggle over eating duck... I think it is intriguing to see what items seem to get lots of responses on this list (as Harold Ohrbach wonders)..could we all be wanting to be distracted from the world's horrific news (in general, and from Israel in particular)... Irene Glasser 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 2 10:23:44 1994 From: dkirsch@amy.tch.harvard.edu (Dan Kirschner) Subject: "eklet" Has any mendelniks heard of the yiddishism "eklet", rhyming with (Sir John) Eccles. As used by my mother, an immigrant at age 3 and brought up in a yiddish-speaking home, the term was used to describe her reaction to walking into a restaurant that did not meet her minimum sanitation needs - i.e., there might have been a fly in the kitchen, or a cat lurking around the back door leading to the kitchen. Usually, when saying that the premises "eklet" her, she put on a face of disgust, and turned on her heels, refusing to eat at the establishment. I have asked my mother many times what the yiddish word actually was, and my father alovhashalom (also a native yiddish speaker) always laughed at her use of it, but neither could or would say what the word meant. Any leads would be much appreciated. Dan Kirschner ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.262 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Mendele: Yiddish literature and language