Music without Borders in the New Germany: Giora Feidman and the Klezmer-influenced New Old Europe Sound

Abstract

Through his universalising of klezmer and his use of that music as a means of reconciliation between Jews and Germans, Israeli clarinettist Giora Feidman attracted a strong following in Germany. He functioned as a lynchpin in the emergence of the New Old Europe Sound, nurturing German musicians who incorporated klezmer into their world music. Clarinettists Helmut Eisel and David Orlowsky were heavily influenced by Feidman's style of universalising musical mysticism, which allowed them to flaunt or erase their musical Jewishness as the need arose. By contrast, Israeli clarinettist and Feidman protégé Irith Gabriely has anchored her performance persona to specifically Jewish signifiers, eschewing Feidman's universalising discursive strategies. As a result, her popularity has fallen following the decline of German interest in Jewishness, whereas Eisel and Orlowsky, like Feidman, have managed to remain viable.

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