The Essential Klezmer
Rogovoy, a music journalist and passionate aficionado of klezmer music, carefully and lovingly chronicles klezmer with a journalist's eye for detail. (The term klezmer is a Yiddish contraction of two Hebrew words: kley, or "vessel," and "zemer," or song. Thus, klezmer originally referred to a Jewish folk or street musicianDa vessel of songDand not to a specific style.) Once in America, the genre absorbed influences of Broadway, jazz, blues, funk, and, most recently, a hard-driving rock beat (leading to the recent incarnation of shtetl-metal music). The five chapters deal with chronology, from "Old World Klezmer" through "Revival" and "Renaissance" (the latter looks at the phenomenon of klezmer music in the 1990s). The author is thorough and up-to-the-minute: the last appendixD"Klezmer on the Internet"Dlists websites of the major artists and organizations that perform and promote klezmer music. His discography, as well, is a valuable tool for both novices and seasoned listeners. Highly recommended for all collections.DLarry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PACopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.