Why Berlin? Why Klezmer?

Abstract

This book begins with an invocation of the sounds and significations that make up the complex of meanings of klezmer music in Berlin, as seen through a new jam session that began in the city in 2013. It underlines the importance of locating the music both historically and in its contemporary urban context—giving a brief but important sense of the past and present geographies of klezmer music, and also signaling exactly where and how the debate has significantly moved on from the anxieties of “virtual Judaism” and cultural appropriation. The chapter lays out the author’s methodology, as well as signposting certain theoretical frameworks that structure the narrative: the urban spatial critique of Lefebvre and de Certeau; British cultural studies work by Stuart Hall and others; the applied sociology of Adam Krims and Mark Granovetter; and the ethnomusicological framing of Mark Slobin and Martin Stokes. The chapter finishes with an appealing ethnographic snapshot of an evening of community music making, “the Night of the Singing Balconies”—an event that sums up several of the themes structuring this book. This collective concert is analyzed as a lively embodiment of contemporary Berlin performative culture: grassroots inclusivity; a firm belief in the power of enthusiasm over the necessity of talent; and a structural and ideological integration into the fabric of the city itself. The engaging observational style with which the Singing Balconies are described not only brings the night to life but also makes clear the book’s overall approach of ethnographic detail underpinned by solid theoretical framing.

Klezmer Music and Jewish Festivals in Urban Europe

“…With few exceptions (Waligórska 2007;Alexander 2017), research on klezmer music has rarely been conducted through cartographic and topographic perspectives. Even though this music is deeply informed by the diasporic history of Ashkenazic culture, by trans-and inter-nationalism, migration, uprooting, mobility, as well as by de-and re-territorialization, klezmer has not yet benefited from geographical analysis.…”

“…Nevertheless, this dissertation has found inspiration in recent research conducted by Phil Alexander (2017Alexander ( , 2018Alexander ( , 2021 who pioneered a spatial approach toward klezmer in contemporary Berlin through concepts that are pivotal to my research, namely the Jewish space and the urban ethos. 14 Here too, considering the intersection of klezmer and space, Berlin and Krakow have been the centers of attention.…”

“…As this section 64 For this section, see the interactive map 4.4 in Appendix 1 and the GoogleMap presentation "The International Klezmer festival of Fürth, 2011-2020" on the companion website. 65 The Berlin klezmer scene has been extensively researched by Ottens and Rubin (1999), Waligórska (2007Waligórska ( , 2013, Rubin (2015), Alexander (2017Alexander ( , 2019Alexander ( , 2021, and several other scholars.…”

“…The IKF was initiated by Swiss Yiddish singer, accordionist, and cantor Francois Lilienfeld, and Renate Dix, who was the head of the cultural affairs department of the city of Fürth from 1987 to 2004. 71 First called Festival des Jüdischen Liedes (Jewish Songs Festival), the IKF started as a two-day event dedicated to the exploration of the vocal Jewish 69 This is also true for the German Jewish festivalscape itself, except for Berlin (Hidiroglou 2010;Waligórska 2010), and Weimar (Wood 2018) which is extensively discussed by Alexander (2017Alexander ( , 2021. 70 In a personal communication with the author, Gerti Kohn, the current festival's director, estimates the Jewish population of Furth at 500 for 130 thousand inhabitants (less than 0.5%).…”