Artist Bio:
The Klezmatics emerged from the multicultural churn of New York's East Village in the late '80s to become one of the leading standard bearers of the ongoing klezmer revival. Legend has it that the band's founding members—violinist Alicia Svigals, bassist Dave Lindsay, clarinetist Rob Chavez—met in 1985 after reading an ad in the Village Voice looking for anyone interested in playing klezmer. The threesome soon added veteran Klezmer trumpeter Frank London, singer Lorin Sklamberg and others and was soon putting an adventurous new, post-punk spin on traditional Yiddish music.
By 1988, the group had gigged around the New York circuit enough to catch the attention of producer Ben Mandelson (of 3 Mustaphas 3 fame), who help the group score an invitation to play at first annual Heimatklänge Festival in Berlin—one of the very first festivals dedicated to World Music. The Klezmatics' fresh and energetic take on klezmer music was a hit and they were soon signed to the German label Piranha, who released the group's first record, Shvaygn = Toyt ("Silence = Death") that same year.
The Klezmatic's sound was a nervy blend of old and new; tapping the sounds of the small American klezmer ensembles of the '30s and '40s and fusing them with the breakneck energy of punk and the wide-open aesthetics of avant-garde "downtown" jazz. Their earliest work was all in Yiddish, with up-to-the-minute lyrics about AIDS, sexuality, and human rights activism keeping the Old World language relevant on the eve of the 21st century.
On the follow up album, 1990's Rhythm + Jews, the group again updated tradition by placing a heavier emphasis on the rhythm section than was customary for klezmer music—while layering in gorgeous new vocal harmonies that owed more to the Beach Boys than to any cantor. They also worked with a host of non-klezmer musicians including Nubian percussionist Mahmoud Fadl. By the time of 1995's Jews With Horns, the stage was set for an ambitious, new klezmer sound that ranged far beyond the music's usual influences and guests like guitarist Marc Ribot, Canadian folkies Moxy Früvous and New York theatrical girl rock band BETTY added a whole new perspective. Also in 1995, the group was invited to play with renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, on a traditional klezmer album called In The Fiddler's House.
The band was also venturing into theatrical and film work in the mid-90s, including the soundtrack of the 1994 AIDS documentary Fast Trip Long Drop, and a 1995 collaboration with playwright Tony Kushner for his 1995 adaptation of The Dybbuk, S. Ansky's classic Yiddish ghost story. The Klezmatic's work with Kushner would become the basis for the group's next album, 1997's The Possessed.
In 1998, the Klezmatics went on to collaborate with well-known Israeli singer Chava Alberstein, scoring Yiddish poems that Albertstien had selected into an album called The Well. In 2002 the group added a new permanent member, violinist Lisa Gutkin, and released Rise Up! Shteyt oyf—which was a sober, elegiac response to the events of 9/11—and which featured very few guests, letting the Klezmatics impress with their own, unadorned musicianship.
In 2003 the band began a longterm collaboration with Nora Guthrie, daughter of folk icon Woody Guthrie—and granddaughter of Aliza Greenblatt, an influential Yiddish poet who had lived in Coney Island and mentored her son-in-law Woody on the activist traditions of Jewish Brooklyn. Nora approached the Klezmatics about adapting some of Woody's lesser known Jewish-themed songs and the band jumped at the opportunity, performing a series of concerts that featured Woody Guthrie material, and recording eight of Woody's Hanukkah songs, for the album Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanuka.
In 2004, the group took an even more unlikely turn, teaming up with jazz vocalist/organist Kathryn Farmer, and Joshua Nelson, a Jewish, African American singer who calls his unique style "Kosher Gospel." The result was a series of concerts and a live album called Brother Moses Smote The Water that gave an explicitly Jewish re-reading to the many Old Testament themes that are such a staple of African-American Gospel Music.
In 2006, the Klezmatics returned with a new album of Woody Guthrie adaptations called Wonder Wheel, which further explored Guthrie's fascination with Jewish Brooklyn. —Tom Pryor
