Music Banter - View Single Post - It's Klezmer week!
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Old 11-10-2010, 10:31 AM   #7 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Where people kill 30 million pigs per year
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mojopinuk View Post
For me, this is one of those weeks on the calendar that stares back at me, even when I quickly skim through the schedule. Mainly because it is one of genres that I very rarely see discussed on the forums.[B]
Heh heh...that's why I suggested this genre, mojo! Shake the ol' place up a bit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali View Post
Damn... that guy has some serious skills on the...clarinet?
Good god YES, that's a clarinet! :/

I hope you were joking, Freebase.

I've always enjoyed Klezmer music because of its wild abandon that is great for celebrating events with a frenzy of dancing. I also like the fact that most Klezmer bands, I think, are actually small bands for hire...not major professional bands that you hear on the radio or watch like sheep in a stadium.

Klezmer bands make music, I feel, because they love to keep traditions alive and they enjoy participating in weddings and Jewish coming-of-age festivities. They aren't trying to make music to become famous. They are trying to make Klezmer music because it is part of life. So, the music is very personal and meaningful. I feel Klezmer music isn't something I'd ever listen to by itself alone. It is music I'd listen to while I'm participating in an important life event. I like that about this music.

I've been to several Jewish events where Klezmer bands played, and I actually had a Klezmer band at my own atheist wedding after enjoying dancing to their music at a friend's Bar Mitzvah. (Most Klezmer bands play all sorts of requests, too, that aren't Klezmer music.)

Here is a perfect example of a Klezmer band in action at a wedding, where you can see some traditional Jewish dances that are fun to participate in:



Here is a local Klezmer band, the Java Jews (from Des Moines), playing last year at the Des Moines Art Center:



And if you can't get enough of the Java Jews, here they are again in a park. Aren't they quaint?

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Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 11-10-2010 at 10:46 AM.
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