Klezmer and Shtetl and Sephardic, OH MY!

Today, out of sheer curiosity, because I'm not Jewish and know nothing about Jewish music and culture, I attended a presentation at the downtown Ann Arbor library branch entitled, "The Silver Age of American Jewish Music is Happening Now!" by Jack Zaientz.  Evidently, he had given a five-minute presentation at Ignite2 on the same topic last year on June 30th which led to an invitation to do a more comprehensive presentation.  He had a very useful handout categorizing different genres of Jewish music with corresponding website addresses.  Who knew that there was hip-hop Jewish music and jazz Jewish music!  It would have been remiss of him not to play a variety of selections, and he did not disappoint.  He was enthusiastic and joyous throughout, and one selection was even a favorite of one of his little girls.

He used the term "Ashkenazi" several times which was not on the handout so I had to try several phonetic variations until I was finally informed by Wikipedia which leads me into a mini-rant.  I really don't care what people say about Wikipedia being an unreliable source of information because it has given me at least a starting point innumerous times!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews

Anyway, the presentation was interesting enough that I now have to seek out more information (whenever my life slows down enough to pursue another peripheral interest) and more music!  An audience member added that Anat Cohen will be appearing in Detroit at Cliff's Bell on March 20.  She is a clarinetist and saxophonist cross-genre musician who is most renowned for her jazz work.  Jack was not familiar with her music but promised to give her a mention on his blog.  Actually, after reading the reviews, I really want to hear her as well.

Jack's blog dedicated to this passion is at:

http://teruah-jewishmusic.blogspot.com/

La Chaim!

(I had to look that up, too!  LOL!)

Update on Friday, March 5, 2010:  I attended ignite3 in Ann Arbor last night which was very interesting, and it will get its own post later.  During the closing remarks, Jack Zaientz was acknowledged as the first and only speaker at the ignite1 or ignite2 events in Ann Arbor so far who, as a result, was invited to give an extended presentation.  Another round of congratulations to Jack!