VOA标准英语2010年-Jewish Infusion Gives Latin Jazz a Twi

Mix the pounding, hip-swaying drums of Afro-Cuban jazz with lilting Jewish tunes¹ from mid-1900s New York, and what do you get? Jewish Latin jazz.

A couple of weeks ago at Yoshi's Jazz Club in San Francisco, the rhythm of the opening song was very Latin-actually, a Cuban-Colombian pachanga. But with a twist.

The language was not Spanish. It was Yiddish. The song was from the New York Jewish theater around 1928.

Odd mixture

How did this odd mixture of Jewish Latin jazz happen? First of all, as New York musician Jeremy Lockwood explains, Jewish music of the early 1900s wasn't just Jewish.

"There's no question in my mind that Yiddish folk songs were very heavily influenced by pop music," he says.

Lockwood, who is dedicated² to reclaiming³ the roots of Jewish music, says it has always reflected the culture in which Jews live.

The song, 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,' was written by a Jewish composer for the Yiddish theater, but was made famous by the Andrews Sisters, who were Greek Orthodox.
"That's just what Jewish music is. There's never a period when you have pure Jewish music, except if you go back 2,000 years ago or something."

So the popular Jewish music of the 1930s resembled American pop music of the time. Take the song, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," which means. "To Me, You're Beautiful." Written by Jewish composer Sholom Secunda for the Yiddish theater, it was made famous by the Andrews Sisters, who were Greek Orthodox.

Latin Jewish music

The leap to Latin Jewish music began in Cuba before the 1959 revolution, when the island was a vacation haven⁴ for wealthy Americans from the East Coast.

"The Jewish people were really affluent⁵ enough to go to Havana on vacation and learn the cha-cha and the mambo," says Latin salsa legend Larry Harlow. Raised a Jew in New York in the early 1940s, Harlow was fascinated by the Latin music he heard streaming out from the city's bars and bodegas. He later traveled to Cuba to learn from the greatest salseros.

Back in the U.S., he, like other Latin musicians, played wherever he could, including at summer resorts in the Catskill Mountains, the warm weather playground of Jews from New York.

Once they'd been introduced to rumbas, mambos and salsa, Jews started buying Latin records, including 1961's 'Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos.'
"We played rumba, like a Miami Beach rumba, something like that, but didn't play any Jewish music," says Harlow.

Once they'd been introduced to rumbas, mambos and salsa, Jews started buying Latin records. Someone thought an album of Jewish-Latin music would sell, as well. First came the recording⁶ "Bagels and Bongos," by Irving Fields. And then, in 1961, "Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos."

'Hodgepodge of influences'

Latin jazz musician Arturo O'Farrill was born in Mexico but raised in New York. He says Jewish Latin music would make no sense if there wasn't a true musical correspondence between the two styles.

"There (are) a lot of similarities in terms of modes and scales and rhythms. The frailach (joyful) rhythm is very closely related to the dotted quarter rhythm that is so prevalent in all of Latino music," says O'Farrill.

Which brings us back to the recent performance at Yoshi's Jazz Club. O'Farrill has been so intrigued⁷ by this Jewish Latin fusion⁸ that he gathered a band at Yoshi's to reconfigure the songs from the 1961 "Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos."

"What's Jewish culture?" asks O'Farrill. "Jewish culture is a hodgepodge of influences and worlds. What is music? It's the same thing."
 

1 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 reclaiming   

v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• People here are reclaiming land from the sea. 这儿的人们正在填海拓地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• How could such a man need reclaiming? 这么一个了不起的人怎么还需要别人拯救呢？ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

5 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

8 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。