I get what you're saying, but as someone who's quite musically promiscuous, it's been my experience that the folks in EVERY niche musical genre don't like the way their genre is presented in popular culture. Ask a serious classical musician about "Tar." Or a jazz musician about "La La Land" or "Whiplash." Or a trad string player about "O Brother." You're gonna get a lot of gnashed teeth and erudite refutations.
Honestly, I think it's exciting that klezmer (including the very word, itself) has become so much a part of the American gestalt that it CAN be referenced in popular culture, no matter what the context. I can't imagine that happening even 15 or 20 years ago. That's pretty freakin' awesome.
I definitely hear that. It is always a give and take with popular conceptions of anything really in terms of oversimplification vs. too in the weeds to be coherent. I'm more hand-wringy these days about these topics because of stuff like AI, algorithms and shortening attention spans. I'm very scared of a lifetime of ever-flattening culture crushing the muddled beauty of things like klezmer, but then again we've got so many obsessives in the community that maybe I'm overthinking it.
I get what you're saying, but as someone who's quite musically promiscuous, it's been my experience that the folks in EVERY niche musical genre don't like the way their genre is presented in popular culture. Ask a serious classical musician about "Tar." Or a jazz musician about "La La Land" or "Whiplash." Or a trad string player about "O Brother." You're gonna get a lot of gnashed teeth and erudite refutations.
Honestly, I think it's exciting that klezmer (including the very word, itself) has become so much a part of the American gestalt that it CAN be referenced in popular culture, no matter what the context. I can't imagine that happening even 15 or 20 years ago. That's pretty freakin' awesome.
I definitely hear that. It is always a give and take with popular conceptions of anything really in terms of oversimplification vs. too in the weeds to be coherent. I'm more hand-wringy these days about these topics because of stuff like AI, algorithms and shortening attention spans. I'm very scared of a lifetime of ever-flattening culture crushing the muddled beauty of things like klezmer, but then again we've got so many obsessives in the community that maybe I'm overthinking it.
Fair point! And please don't mistake my comment for any kind of criticism. I've been enjoying your writings, albeit mostly as a lurker...
My most encouraging lurker :)