Ethnic music for an ethnic Yankee

   The feeling of being a part of something bigger than me (such as a small group of people, or society as a whole) is often followed, or preceded, by feeling apart, as these feelings of acceptance are usually tenuous and fragile. I feel like I want to belong, but inside there seems like a sizable chunk of me that regards belonging as frightening and despicable, and that side is always ready to assert itself in most any situation. This is often apparent to me in my tastes in the arts, and in music in particular.
   Much of what I like in music is from other countries than my own, usually in languages I am unfamiliar with, and from cultures that are foreign to me. This music is generally called 'world' music these days, but for me that term implies an inclusive world, and the world which I live in often does not feel that way. I prefer to think of this music as 'ethnic', because I relate to that term; while I was born in the United States as a white male, I was also born Jewish, and although I am not religious, I do feel 'ethnic' in relation to other white people. Growing up in New York City (an area with the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel), I still felt a sense of being different, and was at times at times referred to by my friends, albeit jokingly, as "Jewboy". My Jewish friends and I would often refer to each other in a similarly derogatory way, owning that sense of ethnicity much in the same way that it seems to me that some African American people do by using the 'N' word.  In fact, I could just as easily say that I feel 'ethnic' in the world in general, in that I often feel that sense of specificity that seems to be implied in the word 'ethnicity'.
   I assume then that my love of Rebetiko music from Greece, my enjoyment of the Romanian singer Maria Tanase, and much of the music from such African countries as Madagascar, Mali and Zimbabwe plugs into my sense of 'otherness', yet also in some way feels familiar to me. It's as if I share the culture behind these musical forms. By being both a 'Yankee' and a foreigner within my own country and myself I can become most comfortable.

Jewish Yankee Ron Bloomberg