People talk of the klezmer "revival" of the 70s, as if it (almost) died out and was brought back to life, as of course it did amongst the secular Jews of America. But for some reason, you always forget that it continued to be played, in an unbroken tradition which never waned, by the chassidim. Now there's basically two separate klezmer traditions, which hardly interact at all: secular "revived" klezmer, which you cover here, and chassidish klezmer, which is marketed exclusively to frum Jews and barely known at all outside that world. Klezmorim like Chillik Frank, Avrohom Balti and Nachman Helbitz are at the forefront of this, it's never shown any signs of waning, and if anything, it's even more creative and vibrant than secular klezmer.
Thank you for bringing this up! I think you raise some very valid points, especially about the difference and separation between these two traditions. I wish they interacted more. I do think, however that it's important to differentiate a couple of things: 1. Klezmer music and Chassidic music are not the same thing. They overlap for sure, but are also historically and culturally separate. 2. Frank, Balti etc. are all great players but they are all relatively young, and have clear influences from Tarras etc. I honestly don't know if in Chassidic communities this tradition and the specific *klezmer* repertoire sustained throughout the 20th century, it is an interesting topic for sure. The oldest Chassidic Klezmer I can think of is Moussa Berlin who definitely plays this repertoire but I don't know of many other examples of people like him in his time. He was a pioneer for sure. Well, I guess I tried to make a video simplifying what klezmer music is and in some sense I made it more complicated, haha. If I would have made a longer video, the Israeli-Chassidic Klezmorim would definitely be included in it. What do you think?
Great video!
@@maninmoon thank you!
People talk of the klezmer "revival" of the 70s, as if it (almost) died out and was brought back to life, as of course it did amongst the secular Jews of America. But for some reason, you always forget that it continued to be played, in an unbroken tradition which never waned, by the chassidim. Now there's basically two separate klezmer traditions, which hardly interact at all: secular "revived" klezmer, which you cover here, and chassidish klezmer, which is marketed exclusively to frum Jews and barely known at all outside that world. Klezmorim like Chillik Frank, Avrohom Balti and Nachman Helbitz are at the forefront of this, it's never shown any signs of waning, and if anything, it's even more creative and vibrant than secular klezmer.
Thank you for bringing this up! I think you raise some very valid points, especially about the difference and separation between these two traditions. I wish they interacted more. I do think, however that it's important to differentiate a couple of things:
1. Klezmer music and Chassidic music are not the same thing. They overlap for sure, but are also historically and culturally separate.
2. Frank, Balti etc. are all great players but they are all relatively young, and have clear influences from Tarras etc. I honestly don't know if in Chassidic communities this tradition and the specific *klezmer* repertoire sustained throughout the 20th century, it is an interesting topic for sure. The oldest Chassidic Klezmer I can think of is Moussa Berlin who definitely plays this repertoire but I don't know of many other examples of people like him in his time. He was a pioneer for sure.
Well, I guess I tried to make a video simplifying what klezmer music is and in some sense I made it more complicated, haha. If I would have made a longer video, the Israeli-Chassidic Klezmorim would definitely be included in it. What do you think?
yes please make a different video on that topic :)
Thanks for letting me know! Working on it ;) might take a while but hang tight...
Benny Goodman made a jazz of it )))
@@AnnaSibirskaja true! When The Angels Sing