Nayler&Co Boekhandel & Modern Antiquariaat*Ramsj-on-Line

Budowitz are a klezmer band incorporating 19th century instruments and themes from folk music of Bessarabia, Galicia, and Bukovina in their music. The band is named after 19th accordion maker Karl Budowitz, who built the accordion played by Joshua Horowitz in the group. Since its founding in 1995, Budowitz has featured over 20 musicians in its performances and recordings, including Jewish cultural icons such as Cili Schwartz.

A beguiling gypsy dance that would be welcome at any festive occasion opens this collection of traditional and composed tunes celebrating Yiddish culture.

Next are the lovely waltzes “Winsct Mir a Bisele Glick” (“Wish Me a Little Bit of Luck”) and “Wine, Wine.” “My Mother,” is a big pop anthem that could have been written yesterday (and sung by Josh Groban); “You Don’t Fit to Be My Husband,” a duet with a mystery female vocalist, is redolent of the best of salon music.

Klezmer is easily identifiable by its characteristic expressive melodies, reminiscent of the human voice, complete with laughing and weeping.
The 3 CD set contains more than 40 tracks of Klassic Klezmer.

These 14 tracks are performed by various Klezmer artists and bands such as Finjan -a leading group in the Klezmer rivival-, The Klezmer Conservatory Band, who return to the roots of Yiddish music, clarinettist Naftule Brandwein, West Coast top children's performers Dan Crow, Marcia Berman, Uncle Ruthie Buell, Fred Sokolow, Klezorim a.o.

Osvaldo Golijov

K'li zemer means instrument of song in Hebrew, and a traditional klezmer was an instrumental musician who entertained at weddings and other festive occasions in Jewish life. In recent times, the extraordinary popularity of klezmer music has inspired virtuoso showpieces for clarinet and flute by leading contemporary composers.

Klezmer, traditional Eastern European Jewish music, is said to have originated in the ciy of Odessa -Ukraine-. The klezmorim were professional, and usually poor, musicians, who would travel from village to village in eastern Europe entertaining at festive occassions such as weddings and social events. The group Odessa is specialized in klezmer music also enriched by non-Jewish influences: Greek, Ottoman, Gypsy, Macedonian...

In recent decades, klezmer music has enjoyed an extraordinary revival in the United States and Western Europe. This collection is particularly fascinating for bringing together some of the earliest klezmer music ever recorded. It offers an unusual view of a unique and changing culture that gave rise to music now enjoyed and appreciated around the world.

Giora Feidman, born in Argentina in 1936, gives us an insight mainly into his work with the Jewish music tradition with the recordings on this CD. With his sensitive and at the same time masterly clarinet playing, the King of Klezmer crosses musical boundaries time and again in order to give expression to his message of the great common and peaceful family of man.