Wednesday, April 10, 2013

J-Blog Music related links

Over at Daat Torah, "What is music?"

I don't agree with all of the questions, and the sources suggested are a bit odd -- how about looking at the definition of "rikudim u'mcholos" or the Gemara about Zimra D'mana/Zimra d'puma -- for instance. In any event, a conversation starter.

Meanwhile, at Modern Uberdox: "Why aren't books like these being written for Jews?" Here's a musical 'graph:
It's exactly the same reason punk music isn't popular in the Jewish music world. Any BT with a punk music background or FFB who is into punk would rather use their talent towards more "mainstream" music, rather than create any frum punk rock. Once you create something that sounds clearly like non-Jewish music, the odds are that those nice boys (and girls) who listen to it will want to check out the original sources of the music. So, in essence, the frum musician would be indirectly responsible for frum kids listening to non-Jewish music and no one wants to deal with that on Yom Kippur.
I dunno about this sevara. Why is it any worse for a kid to check out say Hüsker Dü or any other punk band, over checking out the pop tripe they'll otherwise be inspired to look into, applying the same logic to the music being released by frum pop musicians? Lady Gaga's that much better from a religious standpoint? I don't see it.