Are there any Klezmatics fans here?
 

I’ve been vaguely aware of the Klezmatics for years, but last night I did a deep dive into their music and bought three albums of theirs to put on my phone.

Musically, though, those three albums are pretty eclectic. So I was hoping that some of you might be able to tell me which of their albums are closest to that traditional Eastern European Klezmer style.

Speaking of which, while I’m not especially fond of clarinets in most styles of music, in Klezmer music it seems as though the clarinet is like the electric guitar in a rock band: it’s raucous and joyful and seems to pull both the audience and the other band members into a giddy vortex of pure musical ecstasy. It’s remarkable how effective that music is, even for goyim like me.

So thanks in advance for any guidance you all can give me on this.


Wade Hampton Miller

Wade, Im a big fan of Klezmer.Try the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars for some modern interpretations and one of my fav groups the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band. Ive played clarinet off and on for about 60 yrs and took lessons from a fantastic Russian clarinet teacher who can make a his horn cry. brings chills to me when I hear him play.

Try, also, the BGKO, the Barcelona Gypsy Klezmer Orchestra (more recently, the Barcelona Gypsy balKan Orchestra) on U-Tube. Great stuff!

Phil

I was introduced to Klezmer music through R. Crumb rather late in life. At the time it seemed like a variation of string band music with a type of ragtime flavor. But that's just me. I checked out the Klezmatics and I will be looking at them further. They are kind of a string band Tuba Skinny.

Hey Wade,

Definitely a big fan of Klezmer music as well. I would highly recommend the 1995 CD "In the Fiddler's House" by Itzhak Perlman. It is a collaboration with the Klezmatics, The Klezmer Conservatory Band, Brave Old World and AndyStatman Klezmer Orchestra. Absolute top notch musicianship and just really FUN music. I think it captures the raucous and joyful traditional eastern European style you are looking for.

I would also give a +1 to the suggestion by Hopdemon re: The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band.

Cheers,
John

As long as we're mentioning bands that mix clarinet, saxophone, and violin with Eastern European and Middle Eastern musics I have to mention a favorite of mine and my late wife's: The Reptile Palace Orchestra.

Their repertoire was highly eclectic, including Charles Daniels, Funkadelic, Michael Hurley, Eno, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix numbers, but always with a lot of danceable (assuming you can handle odd time signatures) stuff with lyrics that aren't in English.

I had the pleasure of seeing them once in a crowd of folk dancers who could handle those rhythms. While there are slow ballads and such in this tradition, this is body music!

A collection of their danceable (again assuming you can handle the time signatures) material is on Spotify (and I assume other streaming services) as "Songs and Dances of Madisonia".

Naftule "Nifty" Brandwein, the [insert name of your personal guitar hero] of the klezmer clarinet:

That was wonderful.

I first heard live klezmer music in 1980 in Berkeley at the Julia Morgan Theatre, played by the Klezmorim, the ur-klezmer-revival band. There was dancing the aisles. I said "I want this music at my wedding". Nine years later, we did.

We live in the Boston area and are fortunate to have a number of great klezmer bands here, including the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Shirim (and its experimental incarnation, Naftule's Dream), Ezekiel's Wheel, etc. We just saw a livestream outdoor concert by Ezekiel's Wheel this evening. Shirim played at our wedding and a couple of other family events.

My father played flute in an amateur klezmer band in East Tennessee, and my nephew played French horn in a youth Klezmer band in Nashville.

from tonight (video quality improves after about 10 minutes)

Truthfully, dh, it kind of boggles my mind to think of homegrown klezmer bands in East Tennessee. It’s cognitive dissonance, like finding a Hawaiian hula dance troupe at McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.

Made up of Polynesians who’ve lived there their entire lives so far...

But it also sounds like a fun group to go see.

All the best,


Wade Hampton Miller

Knoxville and Chattanooga's four main synagogues, which are of substantial size, were all founded between the 1860's and 1890's. I myself am from Oak Ridge, whose synagogue was founded during the Manhattan Project. People get married, they gotta have a band :).