Klezmer concerts and other Jewish music
Shtetl Band Amsterdam is available for international tours and for performances at just one festival, stage or venue.
For concerts the band offers a number of programs.
THE KLEZMER VILLAGE
With master clarinet player Christian Dawid
An exciting world music concert from Europe's leading village klezmerband Shtetl Band Amsterdam and master clarinet player Christian Dawid. Pure and rich music from the old 'Fiddler-on-the-Roof' villages in Eastern Europe, now played by the newest generation of klezmer musicians.The band members of Shtetl Band Amsterdam are an exciting mix of Jewish and non-Jewish musicians, highly trained in classical or jazz music. They are united by their love for the authentic performance style of klezmer. The musicians dress up the music by giving comments and explanations about the program, thus making a contact with the audience on several levels. New klezmer compositions by artistic director Gregor Schaefer complete this exceptional concert. |
Special guest: Christian Dawid
He counts as one of today's leading klezmer clarinetists in the current lively klezmer scene. He is one of the few clarinet players to completely master the art of the C-clarinet, an instrument that voices strong emotions using its intense and compelling sound. From his home base Berlin, Dawid travels around the world to perform with other klezmer heroes. Besides his concerts with Shtetl Band Amsterdam he plays with Shura Lipovsky, Brave Old World, Budowitz, Frank London and the group that he leads, Konsonans Retro.
"An incredibly expressive clarinet player" - klezmershack.com
"World class clarinetist with a magical lyrical phrasing" - Jüdische Allgemeine, Berlin
The accompanying CD The Klezmer Village has been released by Chamsa Records in February 2011.
SHTETL BAND AMSTERDAM & SHURA LIPOVSKY
Village Klezmer music, Yiddish songs and stories
Renowned singer Shura Lipovsky started her career in the Netherlands, but these days she mostly performs abroad. Now she has created, together with Shtetl Band Amsterdam, a totally new program of beautiful Jewish songs and music. The music is deepened by Yiddish stories, told by Shura with an intense involvement and love for the Jewish culture.
Together with the village sound of Shtetl Band Amsterdam the songs and stories form a harmonious and pure combination. The band brings klezmer music with the sound of a small village orchestra, with the violin in a leading role. Shtetl Band Amsterdam are much in demand as a performer of pure klezmer music, they have played at venues and festivals in the Netherlands and in Bremen, Wuppertal, Augsburg, and Brussels. The group of young virtuosos is made up of Jewish and non-Jewish musicians. Recently they released their new CD The Klezmer Village (with guest clarinetist Christian Dawid) on the Chamsa Records label.
Shura Lipovsky was part of The Klezmer Extravaganza with Itzhak Perlman and in 2009 she and her group Serendipity 4 performed at Carnegie Hall. In the same year Shura could be heard with pianist Jacques Verheyen at the Delft Chamber Music Festival, organized by Liza Fershtman. Shura was a member of the jury for the first International Jewish Music Competition in Amsterdam (2008). In February 2011 she and her new ensemble Novaya Shira performed a program with Yiddish songs from Russia, at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
THE BRIDE'S WALTZ
Village Klezmer concert
Village Klezmer is expressive music from the rich culture of the Jewish shtetls, almost swept away, thought to have vanished, and now, in the 21st century, fully back again. In the program "The Bride's Waltz", Shtetl Band Amsterdam revitalizes this village music in a refreshing way, with music for listening and for dancing, with happiness that is not worked up, with sadness that is not schmaltzy. The festive mood and the energy of the music make the audience feel like being at a Jewish wedding. The musicians casually explain about the melodies.
In its short life Shtetl Band Amsterdam has also become an inspired and much in demand exponent of this Village Klezmer style. The musicians found instruments that match the sound of a village orchestra: a violin in a special tuning, a small bowed bass (bassetl), a bass drum with an attached cymbal (poyk).
The program The Bride's Waltz is named after a klezmer waltz that was composed near the end of the 19th century by the Judaized gipsy fiddler Petru Zigeuner from Bessarabia. The waltz was possibly meant to be played at the party for the bride, the night before her wedding. Furthermore the program contains some well-known klezmer tunes, here played with a village sound, old melodies that were never recorded, and a few brand new compositions by Gregor Schaefer.
A program with buzzing and bouncing klezmer music, right from the heart.
The accompanying CD "The Bride's Waltz" was released April 2008 on Chamsa Records.
Program notes of "The Bride's Waltz": Download PDF brochure / Download text file
KLEZMORIM UN KHASIDIM
Klezmer and Hasidic music
Klezmer music's full nephew is Hasidic (or Hassidic, Chasidic, Chassidic) music. Originally these were melodies withouts lyrics, to be song or hummed. They were composed by rabbis in Eastern Europe to reach higher levels of religious experience together with the faithful. There was a lot of dancing going on together with singing these melodies, it was (and still is) a festive way to experience one's religion. These Hasidic melodies are related to the melodies of klezmer music, they blend in easily when played on our instruments. In this program Shtetl Band Amsterdam shows music of both these branches of Jewish culture.