Hello Efrén, Well, English is not my native language, but somehow "Radical Jewish Culture" didn't sound for me bad as a name of Zorn's series. Anyway, after reading this thread for awhile I finally looked in the dictionary for the word "radical". I found several meanings for it there, and at least two of them look good for me: - Arising from or going to a root or source; basic; - Excellent; wonderful (Slang). Both meanings are probably not the most common, but just fine for the definition of music which is in RJC. There is no problem for me telling RJC and Composers' series one from another. The former contains either music played my Jewish musicians-authors (see: Shrek or Selfhaters) or Jewish traditional/ conventionalized to traditional Jewish music (see: Sparks or Satlah). The later contains not Jewish music either composed by Jewish composer and performed by somebody else (see: Sharp) or composed and performed by not Jewish musicians (see: Otomo Yoshihide). NP: Jamie Saft "Sovlanut" (CD) -- Best regards, Peter Gannushkin URL: http://www.downtownmusic.net/ Friday, December 6, 2002, you wrote to me: EdV> Hi, EdV> First of all, probably my English doesn't allow me to EdV> express myself as I'd like to and that can lead to EdV> some misunderstandings. EdV> If Zorn has planned the series without preconceptions EdV> as someone said, then the fact of publishing some EdV> musicians on the Composer Series and some others on EdV> the RJC Series would also be pointless. There must be EdV> some kind of guidelines or criteria for him to EdV> stablish such a division in those particular cases. A EdV> division that isn't clear to me at all for the same EdV> reasons I mentioned in previous e-mails. What makes EdV> Shrek or the Selfhaters more likely to be included in EdV> the RJC than, say, Elliot Sharp's string quartets? And EdV> above all, if the term "Radical" is not related to EdV> politics at all (which is something I agree with), EdV> then what makes Tim Sparks so artistically radical? Of EdV> course, by saying "purity" I wasn't implying that EdV> "radical" is a synonymous term at all but they're EdV> supposed to take off from the roots of Jewish folklore EdV> to create something new that makes the music "radical" EdV> in some way or another. What's so radical in "Klezmer EdV> Madness" or "Diaspora Soul", I don't know. EdV> Besides that, and considering what the current EdV> political panorama is like, I think that a good choice EdV> of words is really welcome in these cases. Not that EdV> you have to be in favor of political correctness, but EdV> a newcomer reading "Radical Jewish Culture" does not EdV> immediately think of "a new form of music created by EdV> Jewish people". When I think of "Radical" not only EdV> Merzbow comes to my mind but also some other negative EdV> connotations that are not necessarily related to EdV> culture despite the inclusion of that word in the EdV> categorization. EdV> An example that I've lived closer to: The Basque EdV> country "issue". There is some sort of "radical EdV> musical movement" there and and when you refer to that EdV> musical expression, you can only think about the EdV> message (support to terrorism, etc...) because the EdV> music itself is not exactly edgy or difficult or EdV> radical, imho. It's more about what it implies and EdV> perhaps that's why my vision of the RJC is a bit EdV> distorted or influenced by movements like the EdV> aforementioned. And when you're included in such a EdV> group you cannot expect to avoid controversy unless EdV> you're ready to give clear explanations about what you EdV> really want to say. EdV> Maybe "Radical Culture Revisited" would be more EdV> appropiate.