Re: New member -- Hi all! (Question at bottom)

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

Welcome, Koby, Ber-yingl (Perhaps your Yiddish name could be Ber'l).  Keep up 
the good work!
Lorele

Koby the Interactive Bear wrote:

> Hi everyone, this is Koby Chodosh from Long Island. I'm sixteen years old -- 
> a senior in high school. Here's a little introduction to myself...
> (There's a question at the bottom that's actually relevant to the list)
>
> So I got into Klezmer four years ago when my mom (a hebrew school principal) 
> was working in Port Washington at Temple Beth Torah or Beth Israel or 
> something like that. They got a big-ass arts grant that, among other things, 
> allowed the Klezmatics to be the shul's artists in residence or whatever 
> they're called. So they played a bunch of concerts. A lot of fun they were, 
> but the coolest thing that happened was Sruli (clarinet) & Alicia Svigals 
> (violin) led an "Intergenerational Klezmer Band" at the shul. There was some 
> sheet music, but since I play the trombone, I had to be introduced to the 
> wonderful world of reading chords ("D, D A D, A D A, D, D A D, A D A", etc.) 
> without reading sheet music. This was the first time I'd ever done that! We 
> really jammed at some of those rehearsals. I had a great time and learned a 
> lot.
>
> And then this summer I went to CAJE. CAJE is the Conference on Alternatives 
> in Jewish Education. I was in the teen program -- and there was a teen 
> klezmer band. I was surprised to se Sruli there, this time with David 
> "Fabrangen Fiddlers" Schneyer and Sruli's partner in crime (where crime = "Oy 
> Vey!", the kid's klezmer group) Lisa Mayer. So we played a lot and I learned 
> some more. Even cooler though were the klezmer concerts there. On Tuesday 
> night, in one location, there was klezmer from 6:30 until after midnight! The 
> best groups were Klingon Klezmer (buy their CD! they brought the house down), 
> Metropolitan Klezmer, The Klezical Tradition (my friend's their drummer. he 
> wasn't there though) D. Schneyer with Alan Oresky (DS had lost his voice, but 
> Alan was *sweet*!), and RebbeSoul (who played on a different night). The 
> Jewish stuff and meeting the other people really changed my life -- it was 
> unbelievable.
>
> So now I'm starting a klezmer band with my friends. So far the interested 
> parties include two trombones, clarinet, drummer, violinist, and trumpet. 
> Very cool. I'll be jamming for the first time this friday with the clarinet 
> and the drummer. We won't have much music, so I'll try to teach them some 
> simple stuff by ear... I hope it works out. (My mom suggested we could get 
> gigs at hebrew schools. And of course there's always nursing homes who'd be 
> glad to have us. But it would be REALLY cool if we could play for ska people, 
> although that would be harder...)
>
> I listen to all kinds of music -- latin, jazz, swing (the first jazz album I 
> ever heard was Benny Goodman Live in Carnegie Hall), ska, hip-hop, rock, 
> weird stuff like David Byrne & Beck, and a lil' classical besides. Besides 
> playing the trombone I like hand drumming and swing dancing.
>
> ***
> Thanks for reading this far! Now I have a question: Where's the best place to 
> get remastered versions of Ye Olde Klezmer Masters like N. Branwein and D. 
> Tarras? Does such a thing even exist?
>
> BTW, I'm working on a "KlezMP3s" web page (with one or two samples of each of 
> my favorite groups)... tell you when it's up.
>
> - Koby the Interactive Bear
> btw, frank london's klezmer brass allstars is the S**T... so is "ballin' the 
> jack," f.l.'s jazz group
>
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org 
> ---------------------+
>