A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular SongHarvard University Press, 16/03/2001 - 288 páginas All too often an incident or accident, such as the eruption in Crown Heights with its legacy of bitterness and recrimination, thrusts Black-Jewish relations into the news. A volley of discussion follows, but little in the way of progress or enlightenment results--and this is how things will remain until we radically revise the way we think about the complex interactions between African Americans and Jews. A Right to Sing the Blues offers just such a revision. Black-Jewish relations, Jeffrey Melnick argues, has mostly been a way for American Jews to talk about their ambivalent racial status, a narrative collectively constructed at critical moments, when particular conflicts demand an explanation. Remarkably flexible, this narrative can organize diffuse materials into a coherent story that has a powerful hold on our imagination. Melnick elaborates this idea through an in-depth look at Jewish songwriters, composers, and perfomers who made Black music in the first few decades of this century. He shows how Jews such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, and others were able to portray their natural affinity for producing Black music as a product of their Jewishness while simultaneously depicting Jewishness as a stable white identity. Melnick also contends that this cultural activity competed directly with Harlem Renaissance attempts to define Blackness. Moving beyond the narrow focus of advocacy group politics, this book complicates and enriches our understanding of the cultural terrain shared by African Americans and Jews. |
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... references and index. ISBN 0-674-76976-7 (cloth) ISBN 0-674-00566-X (pbk.) 1. Popular music—United States—History and criticism. 2. Afro-Americans—Music—History and criticism. 3. Jews—United States—Music—History and criticism. I. Title ...
... references and index. ISBN 0-674-76976-7 (cloth) ISBN 0-674-00566-X (pbk.) 1. Popular music—United States—History and criticism. 2. Afro-Americans—Music—History and criticism. 3. Jews—United States—Music—History and criticism. I. Title ...
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... reference in present discussions. In this light it is important to remember that although it seems to have been born in some far-distant past, it is only since the late 1960s or so that the phrase “Black-Jewish” (as in “relations”) has ...
... reference in present discussions. In this light it is important to remember that although it seems to have been born in some far-distant past, it is only since the late 1960s or so that the phrase “Black-Jewish” (as in “relations”) has ...
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... inevitably brought them together to work for social justice. This collective narrative begins with references to the sympathy E x a m C o p y African American. Copyright © 1999 The President and Fellows of Harvard College 4 Introduction.
... inevitably brought them together to work for social justice. This collective narrative begins with references to the sympathy E x a m C o p y African American. Copyright © 1999 The President and Fellows of Harvard College 4 Introduction.
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... reference to women and gay men, it has been necessary to develop a masculinized grammar of group relations which is up to the task. Not surprisingly, that construct which we call “Black-Jewish relations” has never been able to contain ...
... reference to women and gay men, it has been necessary to develop a masculinized grammar of group relations which is up to the task. Not surprisingly, that construct which we call “Black-Jewish relations” has never been able to contain ...
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Índice
The Racialness of Jewish Men | |
From Blackface to White Negro | |
African American Music and the Nation | |
Making Jews Sacred in African American Music | |
Epilogue | |
Notes | |
Index | |
Outras edições - Ver tudo
A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song Jeffrey Melnick Pré-visualização indisponível - 2001 |
A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song Jeffrey Melnick Pré-visualização indisponível - 1999 |
Palavras e frases frequentes
able According activity actual African American music Ameri American popular American Popular Music Americans and Jews appeared argues artistic attention become begin Black Black-Jewish relations blackface Blues Book called Cantor century Chicago City claim clear close colored comes composer course critic cultural described developed discussions early ethnic example explain expression fact father folk forms George Gershwin groups helped idea identity important instance interesting Irving Berlin jazz Jazz Singer Jewish Jews and African Johnson Jolson least major marked materials metaphor Mezzrow Michael move musicians Negro original Oxford particularly performers play popular music Porgy and Bess position productions published Quoted race racial ragtime reference relationship rhetoric seems sexual similar sing social song sounds spiritual stage story success suggested Tin Pan Alley tion United writing written York
Referências a este livro
The Uncrowned King of Swing: Fletcher Henderson and Big Band Jazz Jeffrey Magee Pré-visualização limitada - 2005 |