The Cracow Klezmer Band was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 quartet

Quartet

In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...

 formed by accordionist and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Jarosław Bester in 1997. Its sound was different from what most people consider to be klezmer

Klezmer

Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...

 — instead of danceable versions of traditional Yiddish songs, and free-form fantasies and laments, the Cracow Klezmer Band instead played often dark and brooding but soulful and dynamic original virtuoso compositions in the klezmer form. Some songs could be considered dance pieces, but there were none of the traditional Bulgars, Freylekhs or Hora

Hora

Hora is a type of circle dance originating in the Balkans but also found in other countries. The name is cognate to the Greek χορός : 'dance' which is cognate with the ancient Greek art form of χορεία; see Chorea. The original meaning of the Greek word χορός may have been 'circle'...

s.

They also imitated non-musical sounds using their instruments — for example, the sound of a creaking ship or a distant crying bird; this actually has a long tradition in klezmer music.

In January 2007, The Cracow Klezmer Band stopped functioning and was replaced by a new band, the Bester Quartet, with the same line-up.

Members

The Cracow Klezmer Band consisted of:

• Jarosław Bester – accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  
• Jarosław Tyrala – violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  
• Oleg Dyyak – accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  , clarinet
  Clarinet
  The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
  
   and percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Wojciech Front – double bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  

Discography

The Cracow Klezmer Band released albums on John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

's Tzadik

Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...

 record label, with its mandate of "Radical Jewish Culture."

• Remembrance (2007)
• Balan: Book of Angels Volume 5
  Balan: Book of Angels Volume 5
  - Track listing :# "Zuriel" - 4:18# "Suria" - 7:56# "Lirael" - 6:07# "Kadosh" - 2:43# "Haniel" - 5:02# "Jehoel" - 5:17# "Asbeel" - 5:05# "Aniel" - 3:48*Recorded at Studio 2002 in Krakow on February 13 and March 1, 2006- Personnel :* Jaroslaw Bester – bayan...
  
   (2006)
• Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
  Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Album)
  Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass is an album by the Cracow Klezmer Band performing compositions written by John Zorn in tribute to the Polish writer Bruno Schultz.-Track listing:# "Meshakh" - 4:55# "Galgalim" - 5:14# "Tirzah" - 10:40...
  
   (2005)
• Bereshit (2003)
• Voices in the Wilderness
  Voices in the Wilderness
  Masada Anniversary Edition Volume 2: Voices in the Wilderness is the second album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project....
  
   (2003) - Crakow Klezmer Band perform one track
• The Warriors (2001)
• De Profundis (2000)