Klezmokum

[Ari Davidow <jmusic...>]

It's so damn exciting watching there be real subscribers to this list. I'd
like to encourage anyone who subscribes to follow up with a message to the
listserv introducing yourself and talking about any aspect of jewish music
that most interests you. One frustrating aspect of this medium for me is
that I am full of subjects that I want to discuss, but am afraid to broach
them too soon else too few people will read them. Urgh.

So, let me describe what I'm listening to right now. It's a Dutch klezmer
group called Klezmokum.  If any of you were subscribed when last night's
message went out you know that I am considering an interesting
classification proposed by one of the international folk magazines that
divides klez into "Israeli" and "American" styles. According to this
magazine, the Israeli music is more traditional, and the bands are part of
the Khasidic and Orthodox traditions. Here in the U.S. klezmer bands, per
se, seem to fall into two categories. The "traditionalists" are those who
mix some traditional klez music in with some modern Israeli folks songs, a
bit of Yiddish theatre and traditional Yiddish folk songs. The Klezmer
Conservatory Band, Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, Maxwell St. Klezmer Band, and
the Mazeltones could be considered good examples of this style.

On the other hand, we have the "new wave" klez gang. The most exciting of
the bunch is the Klezmatics. I liked the first album a lot, but it seemed
kind of stodgy in places. The second album, "Rhythm and Jews" is
wonderful. This is taking klez to places never before considered, with
bits of rock, Eastern rhythms, and jazz popping up in all the right
places. Vocals are still a bit rough, but the music feels like =exactly=
klez for the '90s should sound like. Tradition come alive.

Klezmokum is similar to the Klezmatics in that it is fusion klez, rather
than traditional. It is less experimental, and more doggedly klez-jazz,
rather than klez-amalgam (this begins to feel like describing the taste of
a given wine--what =is= our vocabulary). It's not nearly as experimental
as, say, the Bay Area-based New Klez Trio, but every so often I am
listening along and thinking that this is rather tame when something
happens. It's jazz. No. It's klez. No. It's jazz. And things are a bit on
the edge. I like it. It's not setting me on fire the way the Klezmatics
albums do, but it makes for a nice break.

The liner notes don't tell me a whole lot. The group leader is apparently
an American expatriate jazz musician named Burton Greene. I like his piano
a lot. Other instruments are: Michael Moore, Clarinet; Larry Fishkind,
Tuba; Roberto Haliffi, drums and African percussion. One especially lovely
Eastern sounding piece, El Khalil, was composed as a tribute to Khalil
Gibran.

ari
jmusic (at) israel(dot)nysernet(dot)org

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