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Although Duke Ellington said too much talk about music "stinks up the place", people may wish to know something about the origins of the Yiddish Fantasy. First a word about Yiddish itself, which, until the middle of this century was the dominant vernacular language of East European Jewry. It is still spoken in religious communities around the world and by enthusiasts, but survives mainly through the absorption of its more colourful words and expressions into (American) English e.g. bagel, Oy vey, schmooze. Jewish music has suffered a similar fate and has only become better known in recent years with the increasing interest in World music. The main beneficiary of this revival has been Klezmer - the instrumental folk music of East European Jewry. Jewish vocal traditions are however less well known. Yiddish spawned an entire repertoire of songs about life and love as well as protest songs and lullabies. So the Yiddish Fantasy represents a personal response to the rich heritage of popular Jewish vocal and instrumental music. The source material is largely traditional, but the themes have been arranged in the light of 20th century musical developments - jazz in particular. I hope that the resulting music maintains some of the spirit of the original whilst opening up new directions for musical exploration. Prelude - DoinaThe doina is a traditional Rumanian introduction to a dance suite. It is used to evoke a distant, pastoral era and the sound of the shepherd's pipe. The freeflowing melody and changing harmonies reflect his anxiety and hope of finding his lost sheep. I - Mein Ruhe Platz"Don't look for me where myrtles grow, you will not find me there my love. Where lives wither at machines - that is my resting place". This tune dates from the turn of the century when urbanisation and displacement characterised life for many Jews in Eastern Europe. Klezmer has been called the 'Jewish blues' and the piece employs modal and blues harmonies to sustain a suspended mood of yearning. II - Funky BagelI like to think of this as 'Jewish hard bop' - a funky jazz treatment of a typical Klezmer melody. Plenty of bluesy inflections and scope for soloists to stretch out - smoked salmon and cream cheese never tasted so good… III - TumbalalaikaApparently first published in the USA in 1940 this tune is in the tradition of a riddle-song between two lovers. Here the melodic material alternates between piano and the horns with solos for all instruments. The title refers to the 3-stringed instrument popular in Russia but we couldn't find a tumbalalaika player who could swing. IV - FreilachThe title 'freilach' literally means 'free laugh', but usually translates as happy or lively, and is a generic title for up-tempo klezmer numbers. Here I've given a traditional melody a modern update with an afro-groove and edgy harmony - providing a vehicle for some adventurous soloing by members of the band.
V - Oyfn Pripitchik"On the hearth burns a fire and the house is warm; the teacher shows the little children the letters of the Hebrew alphabet…" A more intimate tune, characteristic of the Yiddish lullaby. More recently, Russian Jews - refuseniks - whose religion was outlawed under communism revived this song. Something of this defiance may account for the quadruple time section, which appears unexpectedly in the middle of the piece! VI - LadinoLadino, or Judaeo-Spanish, is the written and spoken Hispanic dialect of Jews of Spanish origin. The idea led me to latin music and to compose an original melody in a salsa style. Here however dancers will find themselves going 'one step beyond' as we only play 7 beats out of every 8! (This can be justified musically on the grounds that many East European dances are based on odd numbered meters…) |
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