Anyone out there listening to klezmer as well? I found this awesome Danish-based klezmer group called Klezmofobia. They sing in Yiddish, a wonderful and rustic language perfect for folk music. Their website gives a good description of what klezmer really is:
Quote:
What is klezmer?
Klezmer was originally played by jewish musicians in Eastern Europe and the Balkans - klezmorim. Similar to the roma-musicians the klezmorim were versatile and skillful and were therefore sought after musicans for weddings, bar mitzvas, funerals etc. The jewish traditional folkmusic were also influenced by the local traditions and the gypsy music. The language used be the jews was jiddish – a language that still lives on.
In the beginning of the 20.th century a wide number of jews immigrated to the New World, and with them came the klezmorim. There was a lively music scene in USA, especially in New York, and old recordings still from the 1920´s and 1930´s are still one of the best sources for the music. The music was still played on fiddle, but influenced by the swing scene clarinet and trumpet soon took more and more over. One of the songs on Klezmofobias album “Tantz!” is directly inspired by the legendary clarinet player, Naftule Brandweine, which himself as a 27-old came as an immigrant to NY.
With time the music from the old world lost its popularity, and for decades the music nearly dissappeared. But from the late 1960´s the old klezmermusic had a renaissance, and the old klezmer musicians were new sought after again. A good example are the Epstein Brothers, that up till recently played and taught klezmer to the new generation.
It have always in the nature of folkmusic to be inspired by both it´s past and present. Today many klezmerbands get inspiration and songmaterial from the traditional klezmer, but also brings in modern influences such as jazz, rock and funk.
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I am yet to find other good artists; it's a new genre to me, that I moved into through Beirut and A Hawk and A Hacksaw.
Any other good bands?