Concert Review: Wolf Krakowski at UConn@Storrs

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

 Wolf Krakowski: Yidishe Neshome (Jewish Soul) at the University of
 Connecticut
 
 
 
 I wish I could have brought my =tate= to the UConn campus at
 Storrs last week to hear Wolf Krakowski and his band.  Daddy would have
 loved it. He came to America from the Ukraine at 14 and became a glazier,
 but his heart was always in the theatre. He met my Mama at the Yiddish
 Theatre on Second Avenue, and as soon as I was old enough, he took me to as
 many performances as he could afford. That was a while ago. My sons also
 love to make music, they are fluent in Spanish rather than Yiddish, and play
 blues, jazz, and rock rather then klezmer or Yiddish show tunes. When Wolf
 and The Lonesome Brothers made music at UConn, time telescoped and all of
 the generations were there.
 
 
 
 If I were a musicologist, not just a besotted music lover, I
 could explain how
 
 Wolf Krakowski manages to take both traditional , ("Shabes, Shabes" and
 "Tsen Brider," "Ten Brothers")  and funky  ("Khvel Shoyn Mer Nisht
 Ganvenen," "I Won¹t Steal Anymore") folk songs, as well as complex poetry by
 Benzion Witler, ("Varshe," "Warsaw" and "Tate- Mame,"  "My Father and Mother")
 and Shmerke Kaczerginski, ("Friling," "Springtime" and "Gib Zhe Khaver A
 Roykher Ton," "Buddy, Have A Smoke With Me")
 
 and to weave them seamlessly together with music ranging from blues, tango,
 and country ­rock to reggae. All I know is that while the words grabbed my
 heart, the music attached to my nerve endings and I wanted to dance, cry, or
 fly, depending on which poem Wolf was singing in his rich but unpretentious
 baritone as a saxophone or lead guitar wound itself around the vocals adding
 the voice of yet another soul. When the three women back up singers echoed a
 phrase, a la Leonard Cohen, laughter and tears come simultaneously. Since
 last week's concert I can¹t stop singing   "Shabes, Shabes", with Wolf's
 reggae beat, to my 15 month old granddaughter Shira Belle McGinity.
 
 She loves it. She too enjoys an international =yidishe neshome= (Jewish
 soul).
 
 
 
 It was well worth the drive from Boston to Storrs to hear and
 see Wolf Krakowski and his group. The Lonesome Brothers: Jim Armenti
 (guitars, saxophone)  Ray Mason (bass guitar) and Tom Shea (drums) played
 with great animo and verve along with Daniel Lombardo (percussion), Seth
 Austen (National steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle) and Beverly Woods
 (accordion and tenor banjo).The three women back up singers, Fraidy Katz,
 Jaye Simms, and Pamela Smith-Selavka added very individual personalities to
 their perfect harmonies. The musicians" interaction with one another and the
 audience was subtle and fun to be part of. The songs they played were from
 both Wolf Krakowski's Yiddish CDs: " Transmigrations: Gilgul" and "Goyrl:
 Destiny" (Tzadik Records).  I eagerly await the next concert and the next
 CD. ************************************************************************
 
 Mae Rockland Tupa is an artist and author living in Brookline MA. Among her
 books are "The Jewish Yellow Pages", 1976 and "The New Work of Our Hands,
 Contemporary  Jewish Needlework and Quilts", 1994.