Conscious Choice: Folk, Klezmer & World Music She's the Grande Dame

March 2003

Folk, Klezmer & World Music She's the Grande Dame

by Garaud MacTaggart

Israel’s Musical Legend Sweeps Chicago

Chava Alberstein was born in Poland but her artistic heritage is rooted in Israel, the country to which her family moved when she was only four years old. Now, with half a century and more than 50 albums behind her, Alberstein, who sings in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish is a legend in her country. As Israel’s most consistently popular singer, she deserves to be considered in the same breath as France’s Edith Piaf, Portugal’s Amalia Rodrigues, and Egypt’s Om Kalthoum. All of these women were artists whose vocal stylings and mannerisms helped define a country’s musical identity for generations of listeners, taking urban folk music traditions and transforming them, moving older musical and lyrical arts into more contemporary terms.

Surprisingly, one of Alberstein’s greatest influences, especially from a performance standpoint, was Pete Seeger, the American folk musician and political activist. The basic simplicity of his concerts and his relationship with audiences impressed the young singer, causing her to model much of her early career on his template. Times change however and while Alberstein’s early shows and recordings displayed a folk music bent, her increasing musical sophistication and research into Jewish musical history led her into a more complexly textured style of singing and writing.

While she is a popular singer at home, Alberstein’s greatest impact on the North American market came as a result of a set she cut with the Klezmatics ("The Well," Green Linnet 4052), a cutting edge klezmer ensemble whose wild, jazz inflected, clarinet driven, performances have attracted a number of fans in the "world music" community.

In the United States, you’d likely be able to find some of Alberstein’s albums in a well-stocked record store’s international section. These include "Yiddish Songs" (EMI Hemisphere 20514) and "Foreign Letters" (Rounder 3195); this last one being a superbly crafted compendium of tunes produced by Ben Mink, the same guy whose production talents enriched "The Well" and some of K. D. Lang’s finest efforts.

Conscious Choice talked to Alberstein by phone from her home just outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. In that interview (excerpts of which appear below) she spoke of Pete Seeger as a role model for performing in concert and her dislike of the "world music" label.

Chava Alberstein: A man — Pete Seeger — comes on the stage dressed simply in jeans and a shirt. And he sings, and he talks, and sometimes there’s almost no difference between talking and singing. There’s no flashy show or, at least, what we used to think about when using the word show. It was, for me, like a revelation because I sensed that this is something I would like to do. Basically, it was a very important experience for me, this possibility of making a connection with people with stories, with no technical magicians around you.

Conscious Choice: You’ve been singing in Israel for a long time and you have such a distinguished history there. Do you see any of them following along in the tradition you have established?

CA: There are a lot of very good singers here in Israel. Not many are so, how should I say, fanatic and hyperactive as I am, [Laughs] working all the time, all the time! Basically, I feel less and less influenced by folk music. By folk music, I don’t mean what is called today,‘world music.’ I don’t really like that kind of terminology. Somehow this‘world music’ became something like pop music for me — too commercial. It’s not really folk music. Folk music was made by the artist; people didn’t really look to the artist for exotic rhythms but rather for stories, human stories. Folk musicians are people who really wanted to change something or to remind us about things we should never forget. I feel less like that type of artist today. It’s more entertainment, it’s more like having fun.

CC: Sort of like escapism.

CA: Exactly. Usually when I chose a song or wanted to sing, it was about something that I knew, even if it would not be a big hit today or tomorrow. I believed that in the next year or in the future somehow people would understand, would catch it. Today it has to be very immediate. If it doesn’t catch on now or next week, it’s gone...no second chance. A lot of people are looking for material that is very fast catching but also fast forgotten.

CC: The banner of world music seems to homogenize the different musical traditions from around the world. I would imagine, based upon our conversation, that you would get a little irritated when people put you and your albums into that category.

CA: Well, I’m not very irritated as long as people are listening to it. It’s okay and I know that it’s a world where we feel the need to put things in categories so people will know what is being talked about. You have to know exactly what kind of music you are listening to but Americans use expressions like "crossover" which I think is terrible.

It is as if you’ve been there and now you’re here. Really, you don’t have to think about crossing over, you just make good music. Then you can call it whatever you want. Okay, let’s call it "world music" because basically "world music" is, well, if you ask me, Frank Sinatra is world music. I mean, everybody can relate to it. I think, technically, the concept of "world music" started in America. Everything that wasn’t North American music became "world music." [Laughs.] I think I’m right. I think it’s an American invention.

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