Better late than never

So here, without very much more ado (this very introduction serves as some ado, it would seem), I'll get to blogging about the last two klezmer workshops I participated in this summer, beginning with KlezFest London.

Those of you who have been following the brilliant writings herein will already know that not only have I participated in (or observed) several klezmer workshop this summer, but I've attended KlezKamp and KlezKanada multiple times over the years. 

So, it is with these experiences in mind that I write about KlezFest. 

First of all, my own experience was tainted by the airline (Easyjet) delaying my baggage.  But otherwise, KlezFest (and the UK Klezmer scene) turns out to be a fascinating mid-point between Germany (and Poland) and North America.  In terms of size, demography as well as geography, KlezFest sits between the two poles (Poles?) of klezmer revival scene.

It's similar in structure to the North American camps, but contains a plenary session of dancing and singing in the mornings, which is made possible by the smaller numbers.  Along with some of the other workshops, dance, and playing for dancing, is becoming a much more central part of the curriculum.  Additionally, I've been seeing a real trend towards singing Chassidic nigunim.

For example, KlezFest held a Chassidic style wedding party on the Thursday night, with an all-star wedding band including Jeff Warschauer, Frank London, Guy Shalom, Merlin Shepherd, Michael Alpert (on Badkhones) and others!  KlezFest had invited members of the Lubavich community to come and lead dancing, and as I expected (having attended a Lubavich wedding before), the dancing and music was nothing like we had been studying all week.  In fact, contemporary Lubavich weddings bear little resemblance to anything that is being taught as traditional Jewish wedding music and dance, particularly along the lines of what someone like Zev Feldman has been researching and lecturing about.

However, like every other place I've been, it was the people that gave the workshop its character.  Mostly Londoners, the people of KlezFest were a lot of fun to hang around.  They were very inquisitive about my research, and once again, it was great to hang out at night after the day's activities.

To paraphrase Jeff Warschauer and Deborah Strauss, leaving London is tough, because it's tough to leave that community behind.  It would be amazing to bring all of those great people at KlezFest to KlezKanada 

Playing for dancing

Home

Well, I've arrived home for a brief pause in my travels and it's definitely a little strange.  Welcome is seeing the fam again, my own bed, and my shower.  Inconsistencies of the last 2 can take their toll!  It's also nice to use a computer that isn't slow as hell for a couple of days!  It also will be nice to rip the CDs I've picked up along the way to my computer and actually be able to hear what they sound like.

The air in Toronto is thick and heavy.  It's like nothing I experienced in the last 2 months, and a little bit a rude reminder of how humid the T-dot gets.  I went for a run last night, and while it was only about 25 degrees (Celsius for all you American out there), the humidity made it much stickier than a comparable temperature in Europe.  I kept telling the Europeans that the heat in Toronto was different because of the humidity, and feeling the air last night totally backs up my statements!

I haven't written about my experiences in London and that will probably come soon, but KlezFest was great.  It's a very warm, welcoming group of people, and there seems to be a very active klezmer scene over in England.

I also haven't written about my wonderful experience with Easy Jet, who conveniently forgot to load my bag onto the plane from Dubrovnik, and kept me waiting until Thursday (5 whole days) before I could get it.  Fortunately, I had my clarinet and computer with me, but just about everything else (clothes, notebooks, audio recorder, glasses, toiletries) were in my bag.  And yes, I know you shouldn't leave your glasses in your checked baggage.  Now.

Anyways, I will definitely talk more about klezmer and KlezFest soon.  But being a musician as well as an academic, I leave for KlezKanada tomorrow, and in the interim, I have many things to prepare for a series of gigs that I have in the weeks following my return!

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  For someone like me who is enamoured by both mountains and water, Dubrovnik is the perfect place, as it has both.  Riding down the coast from Split, the visitor is treated to amazing views of the Adriatic sea, and mountains and islands that follow the coastline. 

Dubrovnik itself is spectacular, with exceptional beauty wherever you look.   It's an old city, and at one time actually rivalled Venice for dominance of the Adriatic. 

For most people, especially us Jews, when we refer to "after the war," we're talking about World War II, now more than 65 years in the past.  When people in Dubrovnik refer to after the war, they're talking about something that happened not even 20 years ago.  So important is the city to the tourist trade here in Croatia, that already, the city has been restored to splendour after taking a beating during a 7 month long siege in 1991.  Original methods can be seen to restore parts of the old city, in part because it is a UNESCO heritage site.

I took a walk around the city walls (for about 10 Euros), and you can see how fearsome the city's defenses are.  And while they have been tested in recent memory (Dubrovnik was seiged but never taken), today they serve as tourist attractions.  In fact the Pile Gate, which is designed to bottleneck opposing armies should they try to storm the city, now creates bottlenecks of tourists trying to come into the old city.

All in all, I really do love this city, but again, I don't think I would come back in the summer. 

Florence

For a nice Canadian like yours truly, Italy can be a little tough to deal with.  It seems that its basic state is a low level of chaos.  Italians do what they want until they get pushed back into conformity, their tempers flare easily, and they talk loudly and boisterously, and animatedly (especially with their hands). I think this kind of living necessitates a level of emotional engagement that I, as a mere observer and traveller, don't particularly want to rise to.  It reminds me a little of Israel, where to get any service at all, one must engage in a minature battle to hold the ground you have claimed for yourself, and constantly fight to move forward towards the person who's going to help you.

Shining examples of this is the stereotypical Italian driver, and by extension, the pedestrian.  The Italian driver (especially of motorcycles and scooters) makes other drivers know that they have to worry about him or her.  They are agressive, unpredictable and unrelenting.  They weave in and out of traffic, taking corners at high speed, and quite generally make life of the pedestrian interesting to say the least!  In Italy, the pedestrian crossing a road must never assume a driver will stop.  One must time a road crossing to make sure not only that there are no cars (motorcycles/scooters) approaching, but also that none will just appear out of nowhere and attack.  Which brings us to Jaywalking.  While in Eastern Europe, Jaywalking is a no-no, and is almost never seen (especially by older people), in Italy, it is a spectator sport (with some of the onlookers wondering if they get to witness a big splat today or not).  Jaywalking is practiced liberally and enthusiastically. 

Another example is what goes on in the Italian trains.  Being summer and high tourist season, the trains are generally packed, and probably overbooked.  So what happens?  Well, getting to your seat (if you have a reservation) can take up to 10 or 15 minutes because the aisle is jammed with people who have just sat down wherever they wanted and now must move out of the way for the people who have that seat.  And then, there are the people who have already been kicked out of one seat and move to another, and have to move again at the next stop when the owner of the new seat comes aboard.  It's a game of musical chairs at almost every stop, except there's no music, and usually everyone ends up with a chair (though not always). 

However, as a mild-mannered Canadian, it takes an effort to counteract our conditioned niceness, which I find quite exhausting and unbecoming by the end of a day of sightseeing, especially when fighting the crowds.  Alas, I probably won't return to Italy in the summertime.

Venice

I'm now here in Florence, and a quick comparison with Venice reveals how little Venice resembles Italy.

I have very mixed feelings about Venice.  While I met some really cool people at the hostel, I spent most of my time there travelling alone, and perhaps this skewed my perspective a little. 

While I think that Venice is a unique place on this planet, and one that must be seen in a person's lifetime, Venice of today only exists for the tourist.

It is the home to some of the great architectural works, some great art works, and of course its unique place as a city of canals, but it is a city that has no real other function than tourism.  This bothers me quite a bit.  Every other place I've been has been a functioning city, but Venice seems to be a shell of its self.  It is a city of great beauty and exploring the alleys and backstreets can be a very enjoyable experience, but when you hit the main tourist areas, it's a fight to keep your lunch down at the sight of the tourist mob and the kitsch vendors trying to capitalize on it.  In fact, it's quite stressful navigating the sites, so much so, that I usually needed a break at the Hostel, which was located on the quiet island of Giudecca.

It's not that I don't like Venice.  It's quite an amazing city actually.  I also enjoy pondering the history of the places I've been.  North America is really quite bereft of history in comparison.  And to contemplate the history of a city going back to the 6th or 7th century is quite amazing.  In fact, one of the activities I did was a tour of the Jewish Ghetto. The enclosure of a small area for the Jews of Venice in 1516 was actually the first use of the term, which means "foundry" in Italian.  Jews have been in Italy since the expulsion from Babylon, but the synagogues in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice all date to the 16th century.  Most stunning of which was the Levantine Synagogue, still in use today, and built in the late 16th century... of course, photography wasn't allowed, so I have no pictures.

So my verdict on Venice:  see it at least once, but preferably not in the summer with all the silliness.

Lots of tourists

I know some of you will be clamouring for some real photos....

Campanile at San Marco Square

Interior of the Doge's Palace