Search - Giora Feidman :: The Magic of the Klezmer

The humanity of a clarinet

Mario Boschetti (notaiboschetti@abn | Vicenza, Italy | 03/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Places, persons, times and situations which are lost in the recent past, overwhelmed by a recent tragedy... all of this without losing that auto-irony which charachterizes the spirit of the klezmers and, more widely, of the whole yiddish speaking tradition. The listnenig to this outstanding CD suggests all of this to us. Those who look for a perfect, classical-music-like performance will never appreciate this CD. On the other hand, if you are really attracted by all what concerns humanity, by its imperfections and irregularities, that make mankind so wonderful because unrepeateble, and all, this CD fits you wonderful! Feidman's clarinet neither sounds nor sings: that's the reason why its being out of tune fascinates us, instead of annoying. In fact, Feidman's clarinet represents the voice of an entire people, therefore it reflects vices and virtues of the human beings in which this people consists: sometimes it shouts and chatters like a gossip, sometimes cries like a hurt woman or a child, sometimes even scolds and reproaches like a terrible "yiddish mame", sometimes grumbles like an old man, sometimes prays and meditates like a rabbi. Happiness as well as sorrow, the sweetest fellings as well as the toughest ones pervade the music of all the tracks, but above all a subtle irony still hovers as a catharsis: maybe a reminder that, all in all, nothing in life is worth being kept too seriously, and nothing, what concerns men, is uncapable to be seen with a detached smile. What people, better the the Jews, could teach this? The voice of Feidman's clarinet will strike direct into your heart."