Re: di naye kapelye

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

We too, caught just the first set, and were mighty sad that we had to go. What 
we saw, of course, was just the warmup, with the band also working through some 
new material--that second set sounds even more intense. It's a very different 
type of klezmer from what we usually hear. Zev Feldman said that it wasn't even 
shtetl music--a shtetl is a town, and this is Jewish =village= music, and it 
has a flow and intensity that (to me) move the soul far beyond the usual band. 
(Part of this, of course, is credit to Christina and Bob and Yankl, who happen 
to work extraordinarily well together.)

One of the things that I really enjoyed was the way that Yankl mixes in the 
Hasidic and religious numbers, along with secular singing. In this, the band 
helps recreate a sense of Eastern European Jewish village song and music beyond 
just part of the klezmer repertoire. It is very much in keeping with the way 
that American Klezmer revival bands will usually include much music from 
Yiddish theatre, with perhaps a yiddish or (in more recent years) Sephardic 
song thrown in, and an Israeli folk song or two. But here were musical 
traditions played with extraordinary intensity and joy that predate all that 
American experience. 

We had the good fortune to arrive early and watch the band rehearse. Rather 
than stand on the stage, they were gathered around the open space, playing to 
each other, away from the mikes, getting New York additions Jeffrey Wallach on 
fiddle up to speed, as well as a bass player, "Sprocket." I was back in 
Budapest for a few gorgeous minutes, remembering how I first heard them play, 
and how magical it seemed. 

I gotta say that the magic is still there, and seeing Yankl Falk for the first 
time perform with the band was an additional revelation. I'm pleased that it 
was SRO. This is a band that deserves that, and in an even bigger venue.

ari


At 09:11 AM 1/1/01 -0500, you wrote:
>I caught the first set of the "naye kapelye" at Tonic and enjoyed it 
>very much. It was packed. - Itzik Gottesma
>
>

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