Izzy Young

Izzy Young är kanske inte jättekänd. Han är hur som helst inte lika känd som några av hans mer berömda vänner Pete Seeger och Bob Dylan. Det var till Izzys Folklore Center i Greenwich Village i New York som den unge Dylan gick när han höll på att göra sig ett namn på folkmusikscenen under det tidiga 60-talet. För cirka 30 år sedan kom Izzy till Sverige och här har han stannat sedan dess. Han har fortfarande sitt Folklore Center kvar och det är en kombination av bibliotek, musikhandel och konsertlokal. Vill du besöka Izzy Young går det alldeles utmärkt att hälsa på honom. Hans Folklore Center ligger på Wollmar Yxkullsgatan på Södermalm i Stockholm.

 

Egentligen är det rätt coolt att ha en sådan legend som Izzy Young verksam i Sverige idag. Izzy är en rätt tuff äldre herre. Riotbrain gillar Izzy.

Vi ställde ett antal frågor till honom via e-post. Jodå, han utnyttjar den moderna tekniken även om han omedelbart förklarade att e-post var ett modernt och omänskligt sätt att kommunicera. Han har aldrig gjort en intervju via e-post förut. Men samtidigt konstaterade han att det var dags.

Vi ställde frågorna på svenska och lät Izzy svara på det språk som han själv tyckte var mest praktiskt. Vi respekterar hans val och har därför inte översatt svaren. Vi tyckte att de var bättre att låta det vara som det var.

Av: Magnus Gustafsson
As a kid I listened to the Hit Parade on Saturday nights and learned all the songs, from Nr 1 to Nr 10, and some of the songs were played for years, so you could learn the songs, and I still remember a lot of them. Interesting that Bob Dylan listened to the same kind of program, 12-13 years younger than I am, and he did a lot more about it than I did but remembers it as the same experience that I had. When I was 14 - 15 a young woman invited me to go square dancing. I thought she was crazy but I went and three weeks later I thought I was the best square dancer in the USA. And I was furious that I wasn’t part of a square dance film that was made to show to the Armed Forces in Europe. I felt that I was taking part in the music and that slowly got me to open my store so that I could live with it day and night. I was a part of something that I wasn’t part of when it came to the Hit Parade.

Varför började du intressera dig så mycket för amerikansk folkmusik så till den milda grad att du startade Folklore centrum?

Berätta lite om Folklore Centrum. Du har drivit det både i New York och nu i Stockholm. Vad har varit din tanke med det?
This has been written about everywhere. Short. I opened the Folklore Center in 1957, which immediately became a necessary part of people’s lives. I had lots of LPs and 78s, all the magazines, old and new books, instruments, and also concerts. It was not a financial success but everyone loved it and remembered it. There were some 25 or 30 other places that took my name, from Tokyo to Denver, so my idea was correct, everything in one place. No more now.

Hur kommer det sig att du hamnade i Sverige?
I came to Sweden via Pete Seeger who was invited to Sweden in 1968. He met Ole Hjorth and Björn Ståbi and fell in love with Swedish fiddle music. He invited them to the Newport Folkfestival in the summer of 1969, where I met them and also fell in love with their music. They stayed with me, and played on my radio program, did a concert that was reviewed in the NY Times, and also arranged a record of Swedish spelmansmusic for Elektra. I did not come for a Swedish woman. I came because I liked the music and the country.

En av de mest berömda artister som brukar nämnas i samband med dig är ju Bob Dylan. Hur ofta händer det att det kommer in Dylanologer som vill prata om Dylan?
The Dylanologists have stopped coming in and not only because they “know” more about him than I do, but because they cannot get closer to him through me. And that is not my fault. However, when it comes to the crunch they all do call me sometimes when there is something I have they need.
The young Dylan fans look miserably unhappy as all their knowledge doesn’t make them more of a human being - they are just consumers of Dylan products and the more they buy the more they are disappointed but they have no rights, they cannot say that they are unhappy about it. Instead they talk about how he should get the Nobel award, which has nothing to do with it, at all.
They usually want me to show them the manuscript of the song he wrote for me, and they all ask me how it was when we met for the first time. I tell them that it has been written a hundred times. It is never enough. Perhaps there is a detail that I forgot to tell all the others. They ask me questions about everything in the Dylan books. Sick. Sick. They do not respect me for I have not made a million bucks out of Dylan. They can’t believe that I still have a little store and that people come from all over the world to talk to me, except these misereable people looking for secrets and losing out in their own lives.

Då kanske den här frågan verkar dum men när ni först träffades, vilket var ditt intryck av Dylan då? Hade han något speciellt redan eller var han bara en i mängden av aspirerande folkmusiker?
And example of what I am talking about. It has been written about a thousand times. Why do you ask again? You are not 19 years old!.

Kan du beskriva New York på 60-talet? Hur kommer det sig att så mycket av det kulturella arvet från det årtiondet verkar komma just därifrån?
It was a different time that exists no longer. I met all the poets, all the writers, all the
painters, all the musicians, all the actors, and all the promoters, and all the clubowners, so that the Village was like a Village, lots of places to drink, lots of places to eat, lots of bookstores and musicstores to visit and everyone was open to meet other people with similar interests. Those who made more money,or a lot of money, were still part of the scene, and had a lot to talk about. You did not feel the competition the way it is important today. You had respect for yourself as part of the group around you. Now you have to have a mega-career or you are nobody.

Finns det något utrymme för och behov av folkmusik idag och finns det någon musik som ens liknar den idag?
That is another topic for another time. What is happening today, happens not in groups but alone in recording studios, and alone with agents, and alone with managers, alone with record company executives, alone with publicists, alone with advertising agencies, alone, alone. In the weekend’s Financial Times there is an article with a headline “MTV made pop promos essential, supplanting the performance as the link between performers and fans” …everyone goes along with this new system, everyone is gamgling on making it like Prince or Madonna and everyone knows that there are two million others doing the same as you are and there is not room for two million musicians in this world, or any world.

Det verkar ha varit en väldigt öppen dörr till dig genom åren. Det första du frågade när vi undrade om vi fick göra den här intervjun var om vi varit och hälsat på dig. Du tyckte att det verkade modernt och omänskligt att göra intervjuer via e-post. Hur ser du på dagens moderna teknik med e-post, webbsidor, bloggar och annat som alltmer tar över informationsspridningen?
Blogg and such is not real, as you very well know. It is not real contact, and it is playing the odds.You can send a million e-mails for a thousand crowns. I get a lot of them. I hardly ever download them. I still write personal letters to such as Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. Can you name a better way? I get e-mail and people even expect me to answer their questions, without my agreeing to. E-mail is good between people who know eachother and will deal with an idea, back and forth, quickly, several times. E-mails are like commands. I sometimes answer right back and never hear from the receivers! Which makes them superior to me. I don’t want to meet these inhuman people.