“Fire under the Ashes:” The Sources of Radical Jewish Culture
New York, late 1980s, Lower East Side. A group of jazz and improvizational musicians work to revive the klezmer music of their ancestors, of which only shadows remain since the destruction of the Jews of Europe. Under the aegis of John Zorn, they create a torrid community, giving birth to a scene known as Radical Jewish Culture. Today, this revitalized music, intermixed with influences from the Jewish diaspora and New York cosmopolitanism, is undeniably popular in the United States, as well as Europe and Japan. How did these musicians achieve this triumph over oblivion, fanning the ashes of these melodies from the depths of the shtetls back to full flame, making them more contemporary than ever? This article focuses on the genesis of this musical movement, whose history continues to be written.