go hear Wolf Krakowski this Thursday 6/19 in NYC!

[klezmer <klezmer...>]

Early this spring I had the pleasure of hearing Wolf Krakowski and his band in concert.  I started to write my impressions, but discontented, put them aside.  Now that he's going to play in a venue that many people will be able to get to  - this Thursday at the Jewish Museum in NY -  I figured better something than nothing.  So here are my ramblings for whatever they're worth - hopefully enough to entice you to his upcoming date this Thursday.
-- Dena

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On a dark, drizzly, midweek night in the middle of rural Connecticut Wolf Krakowski treated us to 14 selections (including two encores) from his first and second CDs. (Gilgul/Transformation and Goyrl/Destiny).

In case you're not familiar with Wolf's music, he presents Yiddish songs from a variety of sources - traditional, theater, folk, popular,  and Holocaust/partisan.  How is this singer different from other singers? (sorry, that holiday was coming up)  


1. The arrangements he sets the songs to are not traditional. 
2.. He is backed up by a band not traditional to Yiddish song.
3. dos kol (his voice).

The first time I ever heard Wolf - on the radio - I was tickled to hear the traditional yontifdike table song "shabes" set to a reggae-like beat with a "girl chorus" echoing, "shabes" in sweet harmony a la Motown. Unorthodox?  Perhaps, but  not only does it work musically, Wolf managed to preserve the  neshome (soul) of the song. It was a pleasure to hear it in person.

In contrast to the joyfulness of "shabes," was the folksong "ikh vel shoyne mer nit ganvenen" (I won't steal anymore).  It opens with a spare trio of Wolf's plaintive voice and guitar with Daniel Lombardo's congas.  This brings out the haunting mood of the lyrics.  Repetion of the refrain also creates a trance-like effect.  The lyrics have a dark, sardonic humor - for instance, the narrator asks the Almighty to have pity on him and not send him any more poor widows to rob. Wolf's resigned, quiet delivery is well-suited for the text.  And the melancholy of the song is much underscored by the wail of Jewish Music Mailing List member Seth Austen's virtuosic National Steel Guitar.

Wolf presents an entire Jewish rainbow of subjects, authors, and musical moods - all in his inimitable style.  Even a chestnut like  "dona, dona" (written in Yiddish by Aaron Zelitlin and Sholem Secunda (!) before the war as Wolf reminded us) was rendered in a fresh way - in this case, one hears the melancholy of the lyrics because of Wolf's interpretation and his choice of instrumentation - including Seth's wonderful mandolin, which is by itself beautiful, but also underscores the song's European origin. . . In "a shod dayn trern"/A Waste of Your Tears (written by the Vilna-born Yiddish theater actor Abraham Levin)  -  Wolf's resonant voice is complemented by a cha-cha-esque rhythm,  a tango-esque accordion, and sometimes Elvis-esque guitar of Jim (Klezamir) Armenti . . . a rendition of "zol shoyn kumen di geule"/Let the Redemption Come, a song by Shmerke Kacczerginski and the first chief Rabbi of Palestine Avraham Kook - was made appropriately perky by the chorus of female voices singing "Moshiakh, Moshiakh, Moshiakh!" . . . The version of Benzion Witler's "lomir trakhtn nor fun haynt"/Let's think only about today, is 100% Country and Western with a vocal duet by Fraidy (Klezical Tradition) Katz and Wolf and Seth's steel guitar  . . . "zingarella," a bitter Yugoslavian love song in which the narrator sings from prison is rendered in classic pop style complete with Armenti's saxophone weaving in and out of the lyrics.  It is amusing to contrast Wolf's version with Dudu Fisher's, which is much straighter and considerably absent of pathos. 


Wolf's top-notch backup musicians, The Lonesome Brothers, consists of a familiar rock-band configuration - although with an extra edge, since there is a full drum set (Tom Shay) as well as the congas and other hand drums. (We shouldn't forget to mention Ray Mason, who plays a great electric bass.) Armenti could rock a song out or add to its melancholy with an Eric Clapton-like guitar riff or piano-bar saxophone as needed (Judging from the audience, his guitar was the show-stealer). Headed by Wolf's wife Fraidy, the female chorus, which appeared about halfway through the show, added a distinctive, cool (musically and figuratively) effect to the musical mix.

The Brothers (and sisters) took on a complementary musical texture with the addition of their "Friends" - previously mentioned List members Seth Austen and Beverly Woods.  They brought a delicious assortment of acoustic instruments (Seth's fiddle, acoustic guitar, and the above-mentioned mandolin and National Steel;  Beverly's accordion and tenor banjo).  These provided a good contrast to the primarily electric-percussive sound.   

Wolf's voice has somewhat of the rough quality of another singer of folk and social commentary - Bob Dylan - but it is much more subtle and expressive - and anyway, Dylan's delivery borders on spoken words - Wolf's not at all. In addition to the above-mentioned joyous or meloncholy moods he evokes, he can sing a song very sweetly and plainly - suitable for use as a lullaby, even.  (An  example of this is "hundert" /Hundred, the lyrics of which consist merely of counting backward from 100).  

In sum, Frank London said it pretty succinctly - Wolf's music is "What Jewish music would have sounded like had the Holocaust never happened." The song selections  were authored by a variety lyricists.  They reflect the gamut of Jewish life - from food to love to tragedy to the coming of moshiakh/Messiah.  Wolf sings with an ekhtn/authentic Polish Yiddish accent, learned at home (vs. klal/school Yiddish learned in modern classrooms).  Like present-day Israeli music, Wolf's musical arrangements draw from "non-Jewish" musics -  his rich knowledge of rock & roll, R&B, folk, and world. Therefore, it's probable that a hypothetical present-day European Jewry of Wolf's generation, (i.e. one continuous with its forebears) might have used such elements to form a genre like the one Wolf has shaped.


My disappointments with the concert were as follows - but all are easily addressed:
Most of the audience (primarily students and middle-aged folks) did not, I think, understand Yiddish.  It would have been helpful to have a longer English summary of the lyrics.  The background offered about some of the pieces could have been more extensive  without boring the audience.  It's interesting stuff!
The band tended, perhaps because of the dominance of the electrified instruments and percussion, to be ponderous - a heavy 1, 2, 3, 4 beat - yeah, rock.  This could be broken up by introducing up tempo pieces like tzen brider/Ten Brothers earlier in the program (it was #5) or better yet, have the women singers appear before the 9th tune, even if they have to go away and come back again.
The balance between the electric and acoustic instruments was unequal - it was sometimes a chore to hear the non-electric instruments in the mix.


Overall, though, this is a concert worth catching.  So definitely do so on  Thursday June 19th, at the Jewish Museum in NYC.  (And if you can't make it, both of Wolf's CDs can be obtained on his web site, www.Kamea.com).

a gutn shabes,
Dena Ressler