Free Concert at National Yiddish Book Center

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

        The Wholesale Klezmer Band will celebrate the release of its third
recording, "Yidn fun Amol" in a free concert Sunday, Nov. 30 at the
National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst.

        The eight-member band, which has performed at concerts,
coffeehouses and festivals throughout the Northeast ... shared the Carnegie
Hall stage with Pete Seeger and Sweet Honey in the Rock ... and played at
Bill Clinton's presidential inaugural, will perform at 2:30 p.m. in the
auditorium of the book center's new home on the Hampshire College campus.

        "Yidn fun Amol" pays respect to the generations of Jews that have
gone before and have handed down their Yiddish culture through songs,
music, dances and prayers.

        Featuring two original anthems, ''Yidn fun Amol'' (''The Jews of
Long Ago'') and ''Redt Yidish,'' (''Speak Yiddish'') the group's latest
recording recording tries to assure that that culture is handed along to
future as well.

        The folk magazine Dirty Linen said, ''It is the balance they
achieve between social understanding and social satire that marks The
Wholesale Klezmer Band as a truly great klezmer band."

        Wholesale is a spiritually rooted, heymishe (down-home) klezmer
band that bridges the gap between tradition and innovation and between
rousing dance music and songs that deliberately focus on important aspects
of Yiddish culture, especially humor, social justice and tikun olom (repair
of the world.)

        The band's recordings will be on sale at the concert.