The Rough Guide couldn't have gotten this klezmer anthology off to a better start if it offered free clarinet lessons with every disc. Spanning seven decades of Yiddish music, the first two cuts juxtapose the Klezmatics' raucous reading of "Fun Tashlikh" with the trailblazing original by Naftule Brandwein, whose charisma and raw talent set an impossibly high benchmark for the genre. The old versus new approach takes a twist with side-by-side modernistic and traditional versions of the Yiddish standard "Der Gassen Nigun." But here Harry Kandel's Orchestra strikes a blow for innovation back in 1923, while Klezmokum flaunts its chops with a delightful 1992 arrangement that tempers jazz borrowings with anachronistic rumblings. Thanks to 19th-century roots in the widely traveled Gypsy music of the Black Sea region, klezmer has enough elasticity to absorb a range of styles and influences without compromising its identity. The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band exercises hipster cool in its rekindling of a Brandwein classic, while the Klezmer Conservatory Band keeps tradition in its vest pocket on "Meron Nigh." Kroke's chamber-music meditation lends "The Secrets of the Life Tree" an esoteric edge worthy of the Kabbalah. For sheer energy, Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars prove that the real heavy metal issues from a horn ensemble. Whatever the permutation, klezmer emerges unscathed, fresh, and instantly recognizable. --Bob Tarte
Album Description
Klezmer, the exuberant Jewish music traditionally played at weddings and other celebrations, is charted on this Rough Guide from its eastern European roots to its North American resurgence. At times soulful, at times frenetic, this selection conveys the dignity and beauty of klezmer music, and combines for the first time archival tracks alongside contemporary versions of the same tunes. Artists include: The Klezmatics, Klez Conservatory Band, Naftule Brandwein, Budowitz, Kroke, Brave Old World, Harry Kandel's Orchestra and Alicia Svigals
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