The Klezmatics
Encyclopedia
The Klezmatics are a Grammy Award
-winning American
klezmer
music group based in New York City
, who have achieved fame singing in several languages, most notably mixing older Yiddish
tunes with other types of more contemporary music of differing origins. They have also recorded pieces in Aramaic
and Bavarian
.
, on trumpet
, Paul Morrissett playing bass
and tsimbl cimbalom, vocalist Lorin Sklamberg on accordion
, Lisa Gutkin on violin
, and David Licht or Richie Barshay on drums.
Past members include David Krakauer
, Margot Leverett
, Kurt Bjorling on the clarinet
, and David Lindsay on bass. In addition, Boo Reiners, Susan McKeown
, Joshua Nelson, Chava ALberstein and Aaron Alexander have frequently collaborated with the band.
in 1986. They have appeared numerous times on television, including on the PBS
Great Performances
series, with Itzhak Perlman
.
The Klezmatics appeared live, in June 2003, in collaboration with the Jenaer Philharmonie
of Jena
, Germany
. They have also participated in cross-cultural
collaborations, notably with the Gypsy virtuoso Ferus Mustafov, Israeli singers Chava Alberstein and Ehud Banay, American singer Arlo Guthrie, and Morioccon musicians the Master Musicians of Jajouka.
The Klezmatics' 20th anniversary
concert took place at New York City
's Town Hall on March 5, 2006. That event is included in the documentary chronicling the band's history and significance, The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground (2010).
, Piranha, Xenophile
, Flying Fish
, and the now-defunct Jewish Music Group .
A recent album, Wonder Wheel, melds klezmer music with the lyrics of American
folk icon Woody Guthrie
. The album won a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary World Music Album
. Another album of Guthrie material, entitled Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah, was released in August 2006. Guthrie's granddaughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie, has appeared with them.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
music group based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, who have achieved fame singing in several languages, most notably mixing older Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
tunes with other types of more contemporary music of differing origins. They have also recorded pieces in Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
and Bavarian
Austro-Bavarian
Bavarian , also Austro-Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south east of the German language area.-History and origin:...
.
Personnel
Current members include composers Matt Darriau, wind instruments, and Frank LondonFrank London
Frank London is a New York City-based trumpeter, bandleader, and composer active in klezmer and world music. He also plays various other wind instruments and keyboards, and occasionally sings backup vocals. With The Klezmatics, he won a Grammy award in Contemporary World Music for "Wonder Wheel...
, on trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, Paul Morrissett playing 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...
and tsimbl cimbalom, vocalist Lorin Sklamberg on 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....
, Lisa Gutkin on 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....
, and David Licht or Richie Barshay on drums.
Past members include David Krakauer
David Krakauer
David Krakauer is an American clarinetist. He is a graduate of the High School of Music & Art, class of 1974. He is mostly known for his klezmer compositions. He became involved with klezmer music in the late 1980s while working as a classical musician, joining The Klezmatics...
, Margot Leverett
Margot Leverett
Margot Leverett is a New York-based clarinettist. Born in Ohio, she lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York before studying at Indiana University School of Music. At Indiana, she was classically trained. Leverett later became interested in klezmer, a traditional musical style of...
, Kurt Bjorling on the 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 David Lindsay on bass. In addition, Boo Reiners, Susan McKeown
Susan McKeown
Susan McKeown is an Irish songwriter, folk singer and producer.-Early years:Susan McKeown was born on February 6, 1967 to John Ryan and Jane Ann McKeown in Terenure, Dublin, Ireland. She was greatly influenced by her mother, an organist and composer who died in 1982...
, Joshua Nelson, Chava ALberstein and Aaron Alexander have frequently collaborated with the band.
History
The group formed in New York's East VillageEast Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
in 1986. They have appeared numerous times on television, including on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
Great Performances
Great Performances
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on Public Broadcasting Service public television since 1972...
series, with Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
.
The Klezmatics appeared live, in June 2003, in collaboration with the Jenaer Philharmonie
Jenaer Philharmonie
The Jenaer Philharmonie is a symphony orchestra based in Jena, Germany. It was founded in 1934 with the intent to revive and continue the old traditions of the "Collegium musicum Jenense" and the academic concerts by the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena...
of Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They have also participated in cross-cultural
Cross-cultural
cross-cultural may refer to*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis*cross-cultural communication, a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate...
collaborations, notably with the Gypsy virtuoso Ferus Mustafov, Israeli singers Chava Alberstein and Ehud Banay, American singer Arlo Guthrie, and Morioccon musicians the Master Musicians of Jajouka.
The Klezmatics' 20th anniversary
Anniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
concert took place at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Town Hall on March 5, 2006. That event is included in the documentary chronicling the band's history and significance, The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground (2010).
Recordings
The Klezmatics have recorded for RounderRounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
, Piranha, Xenophile
Xenophile Records
Xenophile Records is a Nashville, Tennessee based sublabel of Green Linnet Records that specializes in world music from Madagascar, Nigeria, Haiti and other countries. The label was started in 1992 in Danbury, Connecticut by Wendy Newton as a subsidiary of Green Linnet. In 2006, Newton sold Green...
, Flying Fish
Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records was a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan, former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society....
, and the now-defunct Jewish Music Group .
A recent album, Wonder Wheel, melds klezmer music with the lyrics of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk icon Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
. The album won a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary World Music Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album was an honor presented to recording artists between 2004 and 2011 for quality contemporary world music albums...
. Another album of Guthrie material, entitled Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah, was released in August 2006. Guthrie's granddaughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie, has appeared with them.
Discography
- 1989 - Shvaygn = toyt (Piranha)
- 1990 - Rhythm and Jews (Piranha)
- 1995 - Jews with Horns (Flying Fish)
- 1997 - Possessed (Xenophile)
- 1998 - The Well: Klezmatics with Chava Alberstein (Xenophile)
- 2002 - Rise Up! Shteyt Oyf! (Rounder)
- 2004 - Klezmatics with Joshua Nelson & Kathryn Farmer: Brother Moses Smote the Water (Piranha)
- 2006 - Wonder WheelWonder Wheel (album)Wonder Wheel is a 2006 album by neo-Klezmer band The Klezmatics. It features lyrics by Woody Guthrie which were unrecorded during his life. It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 49th Grammy awards....
(Lyrics by Woody Guthrie) (JMG) - 2006 - Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous HanukkahWoody Guthrie's Happy Joyous HanukkahWoody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah is the eighth album by New York band the Klezmatics, released in 2006. It contains Hanukkah-themed songs, of which the lyrics to most were written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1949.- Track listing :...
(JMG) - 2008 - Tuml = Lebn: The Best Of The First 20 Years (Piranha)
- 2011 - 'Live at Town Hall" (Klezmatics Disc)