Why Berlin? Why Klezmer?

Abstract This book begins with an invocation of the sounds and significations that make up the complex of meanings of klezmer music in Berlin, as seen through a new jam session that began in the city in 2013. It underlines the importance of locating the music both historically and in its contemporary urban context—giving a brief but important sense of the past and present geographies of klezmer music, and also signaling exactly where and how the debate has significantly moved on from the anxieties of “virtual Judaism” and cultural appropriation. The chapter lays out the author’s methodology, as well as signposting certain theoretical frameworks that structure the narrative: the urban spatial critique of Lefebvre and de Certeau; British cultural studies work by Stuart Hall and others; the applied sociology of Adam Krims and Mark Granovetter; and the ethnomusicological framing of Mark Slobin and Martin Stokes. The chapter finishes with an appealing ethnographic snapshot of an evening of community music making, “the Night of the Singing Balconies”—an event that sums up several of the themes structuring this book. This collective concert is analyzed as a lively embodiment of contemporary Berlin performative culture: grassroots inclusivity; a firm belief in the power of enthusiasm over the necessity of talent; and a structural and ideological integration into the fabric of the city itself. The engaging observational style with which the Singing Balconies are described not only brings the night to life but also makes clear the book’s overall approach of ethnographic detail underpinned by solid theoretical framing.