Album Review
Klezmeritis
Klezmeritis
Kaleidoscope Music
[Compay Segundo and Joseito Fernandez sit together feeling overwhelmed by the stack of CDs in front of them.]
Compay Segundo: We have several klezmer albums to look at. Which one shall we listen to first?
Joseito Fernandez: Klezmeritis.
Compay: The reason for this choice?
Joseito: It has to go back to the library before the others.
C: Hm. What else can we say about it?
J: We should say a little about klezmer in general first.
C: It is Jewish music. What else?
J: It came from the travelling Jewish musicians of Eastern Europe who would play wherever they were needed, at festivals, at dances, but especially at Jewish weddings. The violin was originally the centrepiece instrument and you can still hear that in some of the klezmer being produced today. The band we are about to review has an obvious violin, although it sounds more like a fiddle than like the classical violin that we hear in the orchestra.
C: Klezmer is piquant and it has a sharpness to it, like most Eastern European music of any decent age. There is a hint of the Middle East in the winding rhythm and the uneven sound, the rhythm of the circle dance, a step-step that is almost like a limp. Like some Greek music as well, I think. I hear a little ghost of Markos Bambekares.
J: When the musicians had to migrate to the United States they began to lose their music, but after a while there was a revival, you know, children wanting to know their roots, and klezmer came back, changed, with U.S. influences such as jazz, etcetera, and so on.
C: There is still klezmer in Eastern Europe! There has been a revival there too, after the wars and the killings; and also in Israel and in the rest of the world - this one comes from Australia. From Melbourne, where hail is falling this evening after a day of blue heat and the air is white with rain.
J: No more of this forced poetry weather reporting, I beg you. Listen to Klezmeritis instead. This is a fruitful group of musicians, isn't it? They've played in all sorts of bands. This one Ernie Gruner comes from The Klezmer Trio and also from Klezmania - we have them to review as well, Compay - while Phil Carroll can make music with the Arabic flute called the ney and the double bass player Ron Hansen has worked with Celtic and Calypso and Jazz and, good heavens, he's a teacher. Uef. I have never liked teachers.
C: This is clear playing they do. The violin sounds as if it is enunciating even when it slurs. Listen to this crisp finish at the end of 'Kolomeike.' Phil Carroll's accordion helps; there is nothing for neat edges like an instrument that is semi-mechanical.
J: But flexible and expressive. I would not have said 'mechanical.' It might give people the wrong idea. These songs make me think of Irish jigs. The music is not the same, but the mood of fast dance music is there. It's music that concentrates on the feet. The ney comes out in 'Araber Tanz' with its breathy voice - and the other instruments join it to wind in and out like cats -
C: - to come forward and retreat when you go close to them, like waves or smoke. 'Stolliner Nigun' has a real jazz influence. You have some musicians keeping the beat steady while someone else runs out and begins to make variations, now the accordion, now the violin, changing a little each time, flowing out of the melody and back in.
J: Ha, yes, he's using his violin like a jazz trumpet solo. I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it.
C: I like the CD notes. They sound like one half of a conversation with a person who knows what he's talking about. They came from Ernie Gruner. Here is the difference between notes written by someone who has studied the music or listened to it, and notes written by the person who created it.
J: "Lively and accurate," this album, I would say, overall.
C: Why 'accurate'?
J: There is something formal about it that suggests conscious precision.
[To order the Klezmeritis CD or book the band, contact Kaleidoscope Music on (+61 3) 9386 7108 (tel) or (+61 3) 9386 0228 (fax) or email erniegru@mira.net]
