Performing Bands
ELAINE AND SUSAN HOFFMAN WATTS
&
THE FABULOUS SHPIELKEHS
The
members of The Fabulous Shpielkehs pride themselves on performing the
finest "classic" klezmer music around. Members of The Fabulous
Shpeilkehs include third and
fourth generation klezmer musicians, amother/daughter duo, from the illustrious
Hoffman family. Drummer Elaine
Hoffman Watts, the first woman ever to graduate from the Curtis Institute
of Music in percussion, was not allowed to play in klezmer bands for
decades because she was a woman. Her daughter, Susan Watts, an amazing
trumpet player, has been playing for more than twenty years, having
grown up listening and playing klezmer in her home. The Fabulous Shpielkehs
breaks the traditional klezmer mold. The Fabulous Shpielkehs, combines
the very finest in old-world Eastern European
Jewish folk music with the hypnotic
rhythms of the Middle East and spices
it with jazz, culminating in the The
Fabulous Shpielkehs sound, traditional klezmer,
with a twist. Susan Watts' trumpet contributes
sounds, which range from moody
to bright; from joyful wahs to quiet muted
whispers; from funky blasts to soothing melodies. We are happy to welcome back
Susan Watts & Elaine Hoffman
Watts and The Fabulous Shpielkehs (they performed at the festival in 2005).
WEST OF ODESSA & Friends
The Buffalo-based band, West of Odessa, with Roberta Levine and Alan Sisselman, features clarinet, tsimbl, percussion, and accordion. The group performs klezmer music from regions of the former Soviet Union (Ukraine, Moldavia) and the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. Much of their music is taken from the repertoire of the late Moldavian klezmer clarinetist German Goldenshteyn. The group welcomes Syracuse’s own Sam Young on baritone horn.
LOVE
& KNISHES
Love
and Knishes is a trio that provides a mixture of traditional, contemporary
and
original songs in Yiddish and English, plus instrumentals from the klezmer
tradition.
Singer-songwriter Bonnie Abrams has won awards in national
songwriting
competitions, and was a "New Folk" finalist at the Kerrville Folk
Festival
in Texas. She has recorded three albums of original songs, and her
fourth
CD, A Sudenyu of Yiddish Song, has been featured at the Holocaust
Museum
in Washington. Violinist Glenna Chance trained at the Eastman
School
of Music and has been a member of orchestras and chamber groups
in
America and Europe. Allen Hopkins has been playing with Bonnie as a duet for a dozen years;
they worked with Glenna in a local klezmer band, and decided to form a group that would present music from the Jewish vocal and instrumental repertoire and showcase Bonnie's songwriting ability as well.
Love
and Knishes has played at the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA), at
Rochester's
Jewish Community Center, at community concerts in Brighton and
Brockport,
and at many local private and public events. Their instrumental lineup features Bonnie's guitar, Glenna's violin, viola, and recorder, and Allen's mandolin, mandola,mandocello, concertina, and banjo (with a few miscellaneous other instruments).They play traditional Yiddish folk and cabaret songs, klezmer dance tunes,some general folk material, and a large helping of Bonnie's original songs. They also feature "Voice of the Second Generation," a commemoration of the Holocaust
in song and story, based on the experience of Bonnie's parents as concentration camp survivors. Love and Knishes has performed "Voice of the Second Generation" at schools and education centers in New York and New England.
JONATHAN
DINKIN & KLEZMERCUSE
Jonathan
Dinkin & Klezmercuse are Syracuse’s homegrown
klezmer
sensation.
Klezmercuse features Jonathan on keyboards. Mike
Fixler,
on
clarinet and saxophone, Sam Young, on euphonium, Judy Stanton
is our violinist
and Art Bronstein, on
guitar. Judy Schmid, on accordion. Mark Wolfe,
on drums and
percussion
along with additional vocalist: Aveeya Dinkin.
Jonathan Dinkin & Klezmercuse have released
an instrumental
CD
titled "Naches", a Yiddish word meaning
pleasure and pride.
You
may download the whole CD or individual songs on OYsongs.com
KEYNA
HORA KLEZMER BAND
Lively,
ethnic Klezmer dances and Yiddish folk songs are the
specialties
of the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band. At performances,
audiences
often spontaneously jump to their feet to dance to the
spirited
Eastern European melodies. Everyone is encouraged to sing
along
and clap to the music.
Based
in Central New York, consisting of approximately
12
instrumentalists and vocalists, the group performs instrumental
Klezmer
dances and medleys of Hassidic tunes, as well as sings the
traditional
Yiddish folk songs of love, joy, and sorrow.
Sid Lipton started the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band fifteen
years ago. Sid had just attended the Yiddish Folk Arts Festival (also
known as “KlezKamp”), which specializes in the playing of Klezmer
music. He returned “high” on the Eastern European beat, and
determined to found a band in Central New York. Enthusiastic band
members include Al Kosoff, drums; Mimi Weiner (Conductor), Ernie Wass,
and Elaine Meltzer, violin; Mark Wolf, drums and accordion; Harry
Sommer, singer and dance leader; Harvey Pearl, mandolin; Neil Novelli
and Sid Lipton, banjo; Carl Borek and Megan McPherson, clarinet; Sue
Wass, piano; Cheryl Wolfe, vocals; and Sam Young, baritone horn.
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