Nist Grammy: WIRTUALNE GESLE 2007: Minsker K and P Brody
Once again, I rely on Roger Reid for the best writing on interesting new music in Eastern Europe:
I'm never a fan of stuff like Grammies and that, but I may well cast my vote in WIRTUALNE GESLE 2007, to select the Best "Ethnic" CD of 2007 in Poland.
Aside: (I guess in Poland, "Ethnic" means something a little different than
in the US? I don't see any traditional Polish bands here, but the Gypsies,
Varied Karpatihians, Jews—I mean, Klezmers, (I forgot, klezmer isn’t
Jewish in Europe, I'm still stuck in my parocial views…) only question I
have—would Bluegrass qualify as Ethnic in a Polish competition?))
Anyhow, as far as I see, the one Jewish—I mean, Klezmer—entry is the fabulous double-CD-packaged-as-if-it-were-an-LP put out by FERMENT—one CD of Paul Brody's Sadawi and one of Reb Zisl-Yeysef's Minsker Kapelye.
I'm not voting for it just because it's Jewish; I'm voting for it because Tat'yana Kukel is a cimbal player whose evolution from the conservatory to the kapelye has been informative for me (and if I would get the heck offline and practice I'd be learning her licks off the record), and because I adore having a cello for the bass, as provided by Violetta Korenkova
So unlike the Grammies, you can vote on this. However, you WILL have to give them a whole lot of contact information about yourself, which is a drag (but prevents ballot box stuffing—this is Poland, not Russia).
www.gesle.folk.pl/?&akcja=pokaz&rok=2007
If your Polish is worse than mine (and mine's basically hoping I recognize the slavic words and maybe know them in Russian)—here's how to do it: Find the picture of the record on the page. Below is a button which says, more or less, "Glosuye na te plyte". Press this. On next page, enter Name (Imie), Surname (Nawisko), and Email (Email!). They will send you an email, which will have a link you will need to click on to complete your vote.
Of course, feel free to vote for any of the lying, stinking, murde … oh, I mean, feel free to vote for your favorite, not just mine.
Wouldn't that be a gas if a Jew won best Ethnic CD, 65 years after the last Jew was removed from Poland? Maybe gas is a poor choice of word.
roger