New Album from Wholesale Klezmer Band

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

'Yidn fun Amol'  Jews of Long Ago


The Wholesale Klezmer Band's third album, "Yidn fun Amol," pays respect to
the generations of Jews that have gone before and have handed down their
Yiddish culture to share with us, through their songs, their music, their
dances and prayers.

Featuring two original anthems, ''Yidn fun Amol'' (''The Jews of Long
Ago'') and ''Redt Yidish,'' (''Speak Yiddish'') this recording by
15-year-old Massachusetts-based Wholesale Klezmer Band reaches back to the
generations who have passed down the soul of Yidishkeit ... and tries to
assure that that culture is handed along to future as well.

The song ''Redt Yidish'' traces the history of the phrase, ''Redt Yidish --
di kinder zoln nisht farshteyn'' ("Speak Yiddish so the children won't
understand'') and turns it on its ear as an explanation for why generations
were purposely kept from learning the language of their parents and
grandparents.

The song, with music and words by lead singer Yosl Kurland, concludes, in
translation ''And when we have learned about the Yiddish writers, we
uncover a sweet memory. ... So let's speak Yiddish, sing Yiddish, and
listen to Yiddish. Let us assure that Yiddish, G-d forbid, does not
disappear.''

The album's rousing title song, based on a Greek melody, features words by
clarinetist Sherry Mayrent that say, ''There's a happy Yiddish song that
speaks of tears without end. And as we cry out and clap our hands, we're
reminded of the Jews of long ago. ...And so we sing the song again. ''

''Yidn fun Amol'' also includes rousing dance medlies performed in The
Wholesale Klezmer Band's characteristically traditional style, and the
traditional Jewish songs, ''Adir hu'' and ''Menukho v'simkho'' served up in
deliciously new ways that remain true to Yiddish tradition.

Yidn follows closely on the heels of The Wholesale Klezmer Band's second
album, ''Tfile far a Tsebrokhene Velt,'' based on a concert to raise
humanitarian aid for Rwanda and Bosnia.

Reviewer Avi Davidow wrote, ''This is that most delightful of discoveries:
an album that is fun to listen to, that is worth really listening to. ...(I
found it) impossible not to listen to this album at least once a day for
weeks now.''

Since its inception in 1982, The Wholesale Klezmer Band has performed
throughout the Northeast, shared the Carnegie Hall stage with Pete Seeger
and Sweet Honey in the Rock ... and played at Bill Clinton's 1993
presidential inaugural.

In a review of the group's first album, "Shmir Me," 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."

Other recordings by Wholesale members include "Hineni: Original Klezmer
Music by Sherry Mayrent," and "Zogn a Nign: Original Klezmer Music by
Sherry Mayrent "

        Wholesale's Recordings are available from :

OYF PRO (Oyfgekumener Productions)
617-738-5680

Gan Eydn Jewish Art and Music
413-624-3204
http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn

and

Tara Music:
1-800-TARA-400, or on the World Wide Web: htp//:www.jewishmusic.com

* * *
Further information on Wholesale is available from The Wholesale Klezmer
Band, Gan Eydn, Adamsville Road, Colrain, MA 01340 Phone/fax: 413-624-3204.
Or check our website: http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn