Hi, First of all, probably my English doesn't allow me to express myself as I'd like to and that can lead to some misunderstandings. If Zorn has planned the series without preconceptions as someone said, then the fact of publishing some musicians on the Composer Series and some others on the RJC Series would also be pointless. There must be some kind of guidelines or criteria for him to stablish such a division in those particular cases. A division that isn't clear to me at all for the same reasons I mentioned in previous e-mails. What makes Shrek or the Selfhaters more likely to be included in the RJC than, say, Elliot Sharp's string quartets? And above all, if the term "Radical" is not related to politics at all (which is something I agree with), then what makes Tim Sparks so artistically radical? Of course, by saying "purity" I wasn't implying that "radical" is a synonymous term at all but they're supposed to take off from the roots of Jewish folklore to create something new that makes the music "radical" in some way or another. What's so radical in "Klezmer Madness" or "Diaspora Soul", I don't know. Besides that, and considering what the current political panorama is like, I think that a good choice of words is really welcome in these cases. Not that you have to be in favor of political correctness, but a newcomer reading "Radical Jewish Culture" does not immediately think of "a new form of music created by Jewish people". When I think of "Radical" not only Merzbow comes to my mind but also some other negative connotations that are not necessarily related to culture despite the inclusion of that word in the categorization. An example that I've lived closer to: The Basque country "issue". There is some sort of "radical musical movement" there and and when you refer to that musical expression, you can only think about the message (support to terrorism, etc...) because the music itself is not exactly edgy or difficult or radical, imho. It's more about what it implies and perhaps that's why my vision of the RJC is a bit distorted or influenced by movements like the aforementioned. And when you're included in such a group you cannot expect to avoid controversy unless you're ready to give clear explanations about what you really want to say. Maybe "Radical Culture Revisited" would be more appropiate. Best, Efrén del Valle n.p: Tim Berne "The Shell Game" JZ may offer some guidelines to the musicians he asks to contribute to the RJC series, but I'm sure he gives them complete freedom to do ANYTHING they want, once he's decided, as musicians, they fit his definition. My guess is nothing is rejected once it's been commissioned. (I assume all of this series are commissioned works...) After all, it's the same freedom he demands of directors when doing his music for film. Consequently, "Radical Jewish Culture" is just a takeoff point, a spark, with NO preconceived direction or definition. Dan --working on a Radical Lutheran Culture project :-) --still listening to the Larry Young 1973 Perception label reissue, Lawrence of Newark (Radical Arabian Culture?) w/ Blood Ulmer and so many guys I never heard of - I can't get enuf of this! _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger Nueva versión: Webcam, voz, y mucho más ¡Gratis! Descárgalo ya desde http://messenger.yahoo.es