Re: klezmer music

[Andy Sherman <andys...>]

> I am a big klezmer junkie. I'll admit that the early klez revival albums
> were incredibly stiff, but the variety and quality of many of the albums
> out now is just astounding. To me, this is the =real= Jewish music--the
> evolving folk tradition.

> Am I the only person who feels this way?

Indeed not.  I have spent the last many December 31's (so what do we call that
night anyway, eruv secular new year?) at First Night in Boston.  Over that
period I have seen the spaces that the Klezmer Conservatory Band plays in
grow from an office building atrium, to Fanuel Hall, to Berklee, to a
2000 seat theater last year.  Each year the energy level of both the band
and the audience increases.

I tend to refer to the KCB as "straight ahead Klez" and bands like the
Klezmatics as "avant-garde Klez", by bringing musical forms from progressive
Jazz and other places.  Now Klezmer, as practiced in America, came about from
the meeting of Eastern European Jewish Music and American Swing.  The
Klezmatics, IMHO, are turning the crank on that process one more time.

Oh yeah, I intend to hire them for my daughters Bat Mitzvah this winter.
--
Andy Sherman
Salomon Inc  -  Unix Systems Support  -  Rutherford, NJ
(201) 896-7018  -  andys (at) flatline(dot)sbi(dot)com or asherman (at) 
mhnj(dot)sbi(dot)com
"These opinions are mine, all *MINE*.  My employer can't have them."

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