new klez reviews: Budowitz, Klezmania

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

I have the pleasure of announcing reviews of two superior
and essential new klezmer recordings, Henry Sapoznik's
new anthology, "Klezmania," and the debut CD of Josh
Horowitz' retro-Euro-klez band, Budowitz. So much did
I enjoy both recordings, that I figured out sound samples,
so that people trying to hear what these albums sound
like now have some (usually about) 30 second RealAudio 3.0
clips. For details, go to
   http://www.well.com/user/ari/klez/klezlist.html
and check out "new reviews".

In listening to both of these albums over and over one after
the other, I was struck by an interesting anomoly. The "Klezmania"
compilation doesn't feel like it is breaking new ground--it's a
wonderful and inventive collection of new klez, and, for often-
experimental stuff, I found it incredibly listenable, but, very seldom
did I find myself going, "Oh, that's new"! Budowitz, on the other
hand, purports to be presenting "music of the 19th century klezmorim."
Many of the melodies are familiar, but the arrangements and
instrumentation blow my mind. If one of these albums is avant
garde (and I believe that such is the case), this is it.

It's facile to say something like, "well, you know, jazz 
and rock adaptations of klez are old hat, now, but swinging,
drum-less, ensemble playing with button accordions, tsimbl,
clarinet, three-string cello, and violin is going to sound
new just because of the unfamiliar instrumentation." I think
there's more to it than that, so I'd love to throw open the
floor and solicit feedback on that set of observations.

ari


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
http://www.ivritype.com/