Re: what is Klismer music?

[Sherry Mayrent <oyfpro...>]

Due to some recent email problems on my server, I don't seem to have
received the original question from Kathy Martin re: Klezmer (not
"klismer"), but I did see the reply from the Austen klezmorim and felt that
your question deserved to be answered in this forum.  Klezmer, which is the
Yiddish term for the wandering, function musicians who played music for
weddings and other community functions in Eastern Europe (as opposed to
muzikant, which was reserved for conservatory-trained, classical musicians),
now refers to the instrumental style of that traditional dance music.  There
is currently a wide spectrum of klezmer styles, ranging from extremely
traditional, European-sounding playing to fusion sounds blending heavy metal
with klezmer, country and klezmer, and a lot of jazz and klezmer.  Though
I'm a pretty hard-line traditionalist myself, I would have to say that
whatever your musical tastes, you can probably find a klezmer version.

There are a lot of great klezmer resources on the WWW.  Just search using
any of the major engines and you're bound to turn up all manner of
fascinating places.  

-- Sherry Mayrent (oyfpro (at) cris(dot)com)
Wholesale Klezmer Band (www.crocker.com/~ganeydn)