David Rovics’ tour cancelled

Contents: Editorial – Cancellation of Rovics Tour – German Gentile Klezmer – Kelley – Milestones, etc.

One of the fundamental aspects of folk music is the inspiring way in which poets and songwriters speak out about issues of the day. Whether it be injustice, cruelty, warfare, destruction of the planet or any other worthy, urgent or compelling cause, we have fought with music on our lips and in our hearts. This immediacy, this relevancy is the very essence of folk music of all ages, particularly our own, and it is why we love it so much.

So, when it becomes necessary to criticize a songwriter for doing just that, there had better be ample reason. I am in the uncomfortable position of having to write a negative response to the lyrics of a song that I received recently. This is not a pleasant task, and not undertaken lightly. But even the best-intentioned songwriter must be called to account if his lyrics have an impact far beyond what he wants, or fails, to see.

Many of you will recall the singer/song-writer Dave Rovics, who visited Israellast year. In addition to performing at folk clubs, many of us hosted him in our homes. Mr. Rovics has written a song: Children of Jerusalem regarding the current Middle East crisis, which he has widely distributed and made available on his web site:

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Here is what David has to say in his own postscript to the song: "If you're one of the good people who are preparing to write me to tell me that this song is subjective, I'll just respond to that quickly here and perhaps save you the trouble of making this allegation, to say that,

subjective or that it's author is ignorant, I welcome your words."

I am as subjective about the issues raised in this song as the author, although not quite in the same way perhaps. But even if I were totally objective (if anyone could be), I would still find his song highly objectionable and offensive. For even if Mr. Rovics is merely writing about massacres, as he claims, he is not telling it like it is, but rather liking it as he tells it. There is no such thing as a good massacre. All wars occur within a context. By focusing exclusively on what he calls a “massacre” he is not being "subjective" but very deliberately engaging in distortion.

But of course, this song is not just about a massacre. It's about people praying versus armies marching. About grinning generals beating up old women. And snipers taking aim at peace- ful Palestinians who only want a place to live. It's about fat cats. Whether Mr. Rovics admits it or not, he has taken a stand in the Arab-Israel dispute. His perspective is one-sided and horribly skewed. He is more than implying that one side is to blame and the other totally blameless; one side good and peaceful, the other side deliberately murdering innocent victims with malice aforethought. In short, he is saying just what the Palestinians are saying.

It is not simply that Rovics has taken a stand in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, which is his right. It isn't even that he is ignorant about his subject. It is far worse. Even if he doesn't know it (and he should), he is using the same language and symbolism which anti- Semites have used throughout the ages (from Haman to Hitler). Of course, Rovics is in august company: Luther, Voltaire, and Toynbee, to name just a few, were otherwise enlightened intellectuals who were vehement anti-Semites who thought they could be absolved of the tag “racist” on the grounds of their intellect or liberalism. We've seen it all before. We have been persecuted by Christians because they said we killed their god. We have been accused of using the blood of Gentiles in our unleavened bread. And we have been consistently accused of robbing the Palestinians of their land and letting our fat cats and grinning generals kill their children.

On the same day that Rovics sent out his song, an anti-Israeli demonstration took place in Brussels. The marchers are reported to have chanted "Death to the Jews" and to have drawn swastikas on the walls of a main synagogue and on a memorial to victims of the holocaust. The Jew-haters in Belgium saw what they took to be a massacre on television. Perhaps they saw a picture of a gunned- down boy on French television, which is considered by many to be an anti-Israel medium. Then they went out into the streets and did what anti-Jewish mobs have always done -- indeed what the Palestinians are doing right now.

What does this have to do with Dave Rovics? Every- thing! He saw TV coverage of a tragic event and wrote a song. That is fine as far as it goes. But people who hear it will be influenced accordingly and respond in the time-honored anti- Semitic manner. To my way of thinking, that is the height of irresponsibility.

I repeat: singers, their songs and the events of which they write do not exist in a vacuum. The way he has chosen to view what we are going through has forever damaged my opinion of his integrity. I know that there are many among us who feel the same way. I am also aware that there are several people who know him personally who have been devastated by his attitude towards us as reflected in these lyrics. To all of you I say, be of good cheer and be comforted. We have survived Pharaoh; we will also survive Rovics.

--Larry Gamliel

In my opinion the song reeks of hatred and is reminiscent of Nazi literature. It is totally one-sided and reflects the prevailing attitude of much of the media today and the slanted sources you have based your opinions on. I am writing this despite the fact that you made it clear what you want and don't want to hear about the lyrics.

Furthermore, you asked me and others in the past days to try to help you understand the situation and I have done my best, but I don't believe you really want or can comprehend both sides of this deeply-rooted conflict that has caused such grief to two peoples. I respect your freedom of speech/song but I think you should do some further deep soul searching and honest research on the issue.

As you well know, I have put a lot of time and effort into organizing your upcoming tour to Israel, both as a friend and as a fellow musician. However, I cannot support your coming here with an incensed political agenda with its anti-Semitic tones. I have shared my feelings with most of those who I'd asked to host you and they are in agreement with me. I am afraid you have no venues nor audiences to sing to at this point.

We are in desperate need of songs of peace, dialogue and harmony in this country now. We have to go on with the task of peaceful coexistence despite the recent tensions. I don't think that such political rhetoric is appropriate and feel it is best to cancel the tour.

--Laurie (Ornstein Zaarur)

David Shalom,

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this letter. I respect your right to compose any lyrics about any subject or cause that catches your fancy. It is because of this respect that I wouldn't consider asking you not to perform Children of Jerusalem in December. Instead I think it is if you just did not appear in Karmiel.

In 20 years of living here, including a period directly after the 1973 war, I have never seen the country so traumatized and stressed as the last two weeks. The situation is very complex and there is no clear cut "right" or "wrong," nor a single person that you can point to and say that he started it. Life is not that simple.

Though we are not Jerusalem or even close to land that was captured in 1967, we still have had our share of violence, with deaths and injuries for both Arabs and Jews. No "smiling generals" -- just a lot of pain, tears and fear on all sides. No person that I know of is rejoicing over the death of any Arab, whether Molotov cocktail- thrower or innocent child. The President of Israel, Prime Minister of Israel and the Israeli Ambassador to the UN all spoke out publicly about the horrible tragedy of Muhammed al-Durah's death within 24 hours of his slaughter.

What are needed at this time are songs of peace, songs of love and songs of brotherhood. Children of Jerusalem is a song of war, hate and prejudice. When all of the media, foreign diplomats and protest singers go home, we, Arabs and Jews, have to continue trying to live together in some sort of peace and civil harmony. The message your song conveys leaves no room for either peace or harmony.

--Larry Rosenfeld

www.galilan.com/~folkster

I just came for the music

At one of the Mt. Scopus folk clubs I organized in the spring, some spectators found one of the acts a bit uncomfortable: a violinist playing the most beautiful and heartfelt renditions of traditional klezmer music. The fiddler, Gregor Mennicken, and two of his fellow medical students, (Henrike Jaehme and Thomas Fimpel), studying at Hadassah hospital, formed a group called Pankraz. Although a major part of their repertoire was Yiddish tunes and songs, Pankraz isn’t a Yiddish term. In fact none of the Pankraz members are even Jewish: they are young gentiles from Germany.

Bizarre? Well, not really: in fact, there is a strong and growing interest in Jewish music among young Germans today. What is bizarre is the stronger interest in Jewish music among young gentiles in Germany and other parts of Europe than there is in Israel. Professor Jack Golbert, who attended Gregor's performance, tried to explain his feelings of unease. “There’s something truly beautiful about this affable gentile playing Jewish music. But, hearing this delightful young man makes me feel so uncomfortable. Obviously, it has to do with his grandfather’s generation killing off the Jews of Europe who played it.”

Leaving the bitter past aside and whatever psychology may explain the phenomenon, klezmer music is alive and well in many places of the world, but strangely, not in Israel.

All the more reason to talk about a recent performance of yet another German klezmer group. On Saturday night September 2nd, Huljet appeared in the courtyard of the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem’s Old City. This five-piece band from Nurem- berg played traditional klezmer and original klezmer-style tunes and songs. All the songs were sung in Yiddish. One of their opening songs, Alle Brueder (All Brothers) characterized their style and message, one of brotherhood. Another that carried their theme yet another – more specific - step further was called Sally Dannenberg. It is a tribute to a Jewess who died in the Holocaust. The band's clarinetist Georg Brinkmann wrote the words and Martin Zels, the marimba player, wrote the music. He explained that three members of the band presently live in Sally’s former home.

The other band members were Bettina Ostermeyer on accordion, Paul Braun on bass, and Sander Toth on drums. The drummer looked particularly affected by Sally Dannenberg, and I don’t believe it was an act for audience consumption.

The entire evening was both bittersweet and genuine. It was also spiced by the light- hearted expressions of indignation by Zels whenever he had to clean fresh bird droppings off his marimba keys!

Since I had just given two talks in Jerusalem entitled What is Klezmer Music? I asked some of the audience what brought them to know and appreciate the music. Ulrike, from Germany, and Vibeke Holm, from Denmark, nurses at Jerusalem’s French Hospital, explained that they actually had no idea what klezmer music was before they came. They were curious about it since many of their older bedridden Jewish patients would have been interested in it. “So,” I inquired, “What are you going to report back to your patients?” Vibeke answered, “I enjoyed the music so much, I’m not sure how I can describe my fascination to my patients.” Vibeke can now easily understand how klezmer music became so popular. She can’t understand how it hasn’t caught on in Israel.

Neither can I.

--Bruce Brill

Kelly Joe Phelps plays the kind of blues music that you would associate with some old fellow with a beat up guitar in hand, sitting on a front porch in Mississippi somewhere, gently playing the slide guitar and singing to the wind, the crickets and himself in a an aged and weathered voice.

Kelly Joe Phelps isn't Afro-American, he lives up in Washington state, and has yet to reach the age of 45 -- but time and circumstance have etched their mark on him.

His musical interests began as a drummer in high school at the beginning of the 70's, but when the first two Led Zeppelin albums came out he was completely turned around by Jimmy Page's (blues based) guitar playing. His dad taught him some Lightnin' Hopkins and Hank Williams songs on the guitar, and when the fascination with Rock n' Roll got a bit stale, Kelly Joe began listening to Chet Atkins and taking some serious finger picking lessons from a local guitar aficionado. Pretty soon he was taking on the guitar styles of Leo Kottke, John Fahey and Bert Jansch, which gave him a very good foundation in folk stylings, harmony, counter- point and plain old sensitivity.

The next big step for him was his introduction to Jazz via the recordings of Miles Davis. Little by little, he was swallowed up by the jazz world, and found him self playing bass in local be-bop bands. He was on the road constantly for the next ten years. After a few years of gigs, he found himself slowly slipping into the more avant-garde sector of the jazz world, his life becoming more and more esoteric and confused, until he finally started to disappear without telling anyone where he was. One morning, as the story goes, he was found in an alley reading Fantastic Four comics through an upside down pair of binoculars, eating spam and corn-nut sandwiches.

Part of his recovery was going back to the roots: the acoustic blues. Playing an acoustic guitar on his lap (due to an old wrist injury) with a slide, Kelly Joe has been writing beautiful songs with both traditional and harmonically complex melodies of his own as accompaniment. Kelly Joe bares his soul in some songs, tells us stories of childhood memories in others, and philosophizes a bit in a few more songs.

Kelly Joe's playing and singing styles are often based on the folk-blues ballad style. His first, on Burnside records (1994) Lead Me On, and his most recent on Rykodisc (1999), Shine Eyed Mister Zen are both solo projects, with the exception of harmonica accompaniment on a single song from Shine Eyed Mister Zen. For those inclined more to the true blues, I would recommend Lead Me On. His third outing, Shine Eyed Mister Zen is smooth and consistant, but the direction here drifts a little more towards folk ballads with a few flatpicked songs in open tuning. Give him a listen, I think it will be both a relaxing and enlightening experience.

--Eli Marcus

Happy Birthday to: Sashi Clarfield, Batsheva Fleishman, Diane Kaplan, Tali Rogoff, Shay Tochner,

Mazal tov to Sandy and Buddy on the arrival of the latest Cash.

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