Lest it be assumed that this development is limited to Manhattan, Pareles is quick to point out the national scope of this phenomenon. In March 2000, the West Coast will be paying tribute to Jewish music with the American Jewish Music Festival in Los Angeles and the Berkeley Jewish Music Festival. In April, Chicago will host a Midwest Klezmer and Yiddish Music Weekend. Every December in the Catskills, KlezCamp draws musicians from all over the country for five days to learn from and play with other klezmer musicians. In 1999, Ashkenaz featured over 175 musicians, actors, visual artists, filmmakers, writers and storytellers from ten different countries, all engaged in exploring the cultural legacy of Eastern European Jews.
Many musicians are quick to counter the claims of a klezmer revival, however.
The revival we see now is in the public interest in klezmer music and not a revival of klezmer music itself, which has always been alive. Klezmer bands such as the Klezmatics and Brave Old World, and musicians like Margot Leverett and David Krakauer, are pushing the boundaries of an old klezmer tradition forward in order to create something new and vital. Yet the musical reflection of the Jewish experience has become popular among people with diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. Klezmer tends to hold universal appeal because it is an example of a musical tradition that draws from a variety of sources and stresses improvisation. Public radio has long been a source of music and information outside the mainstream.