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

[Yossi ? <yossi34...>]

could you please remove me from the E-MAil list------  yossi34 (at) 
hotmail(dot)com


>From: klezmer (at) yiddishmusic(dot)com
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: go hear Wolf Krakowski this Thursday 6/19 in NYC!
>Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 10:39:15 -0400
>
>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
>
>                                 -----
>
>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

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