526 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II
form a G major chord (actually an F-sharp major chord in the performance
heard here, since the entire instrument is tuned a half-step fl at). The words to
this traditional song, sung in Hawaiian, comment on the beauty of the islanders’
natural surroundings. This performance, recorded for Smithsonian/Folkways
Records, took place as part of a multiethnic folk festival in Virginia in 1992.KLEZMER
The infl ux of 20 million immigrants to the United States between 1880 and 1920
ushered in a new era in American ethnic history. Though signifi cant numbers
came from China and Japan, and smaller numbers from nations throughout the
world, by far the most immigrants came from Europe. Of these, the two largest
groups were Italians and Eastern European Jews. Although Jewish communities
had been part of the American fabric since colonial times, the arrival of large
groups of Yiddish-speaking Jews, fl eeing the pogroms in Russia and Poland, for-
ever altered the face of American Jewish ethnicity. Most European immigrants
arrived in the United States via Ellis Island, and many of these settled in New York
City’s Lower East Side. Tenements became ethnic enclaves, where languages,
religious customs, foods, and other traditional practices could be preserved and
the process of assimilation to a new culture thereby eased.
Among the cultural practices retained by Yiddish-speaking American Jews
was a type of secular music developed in the Russian and Austro-Hungarian
empires and in Romania and associated particularly with wedding celebrations.
A musician who played this type of music was called a klezmer (plural klezmorim,
from the Hebrew phrase for “vessels of song”), and in the United States that term
was extended to the music itself. Klezmer is a living repertory of traditional Jewish
songs and dances, such as freylekhs and zhoks, to which new pieces are continu-
ally added (“klezmer” is also used to refer to the musical style). In Eastern Europe
the instrumentation typically emphasized violin and folk instruments such
as the tsimbl, a hammered dulcimer. In its American incarnation, the typical
klezmer band resembles a theater orchestra of the vaudeville era, which was alsoAmerican klezmerListen & Refl ect
- As described in chapter 11, signifi cant exchanges took place between early country
musicians and Hawaiian musicians in touring tent-rep shows in the South. One can only
speculate as to whether Maybelle Carter’s techniques infl uenced Hawaiian musicians or
vice versa. Compare slack key guitar with Carter-style guitar, as in “Can the Circle Be
Unbroken” (LG 11.2). What relationship can you hear between the two? - How would you characterize Kaapana’s singing? Consider range, register, and vocal
tension. Also, how does the voice complement or clash with the instrumental sonority?
CD 4.11 Listening Guide 21.4 “Wai okeaniani” LEDWARD KAAPANA172028_21_514-530_r2_mr.indd 526 23/01/13 11:18 AM