Oy.

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Gunn was my date to the Klezmatics show last night. It was billed as a Hannukah party. I don't know if anyone knew we were gentile interlopers who got in for free, but we were kinda lost during the Yiddish singalong portions of the evening and felt, both amusingly and profoundly at times, as though we were crashing someone else's party. Which I guess is fitting since we basically were. Gunn decided that "So the Irish Catholic and the Turk walk into a klezmer show..." must be the beginning of some bad joke, though we're not sure what the punchline would be. We were some of the only attendees in the 25-30 range, heavily outnumbered by older jewish folks and then there was an odd teenage klezmer mosh pit in the back behind the chairs they'd set up, which was pretty awesome. For having grown up in the twin cities and having lived in two different places and attended a large portion of my college classes on the west bank, it's a shame that I'd not ever made it to a show at the Cedar before last night.

The Klezmatics are really impressive musicians. They do what they do really well and they've obviously been doing it a long time, together. Their energy was familial. Watching them play made me really miss playing music regularly with other people. Zurround obviously has many differences from these folks, but the show made me remember the best parts of the vibe of being on stage with five other people you know really well. Every member of the group is a multi-instrumentalist. They all sing, and often do so together in complex harmony. Their primary singer also plays a wicked accordian, guitar, and piano. The trumpet player doubled on keyboard. The sax player played that and clarinet and a flute I couldn't identify, as well as piano and a jaw harp. The bass player (who played a six-string like it was nothing) also played a dulcimer and another organ-type instrument I couldn't identify. Their violinist was phenomenal. They mentioned having won a Grammy earlier this year, which I hadn't known. It made their down-to-earth manner and humor with each other and the crowd all the more endearing.

Anyway, good show!

Comments

[sarendipatree.livejournal.com]

I saw the Klezmatics at the Cult many moons ago. They put on a lovely show. That sounds like a weird little moment to happen in on. Color me jealous.