This session will discuss the origins of Klezmer music and its growth in popularity. You will be introduced to hearing the actual music and learning to appreciate this unique sound. Klezmer in Yiddish mean, vessel (klez), song (zemer). Klezmer was the predominant music of the European and Russian Jewish people. The Jewish people over time were allowed the freedom to form their own bands, travel, and engage in musical endeavors. Klezmer is a combination of Hassidic (mystical), folk, local non-Jewish, and religious literagy song. It is strictly instrumental music. Their is not a vocalist. By the 1800's Klezmer had become integrated into all musical Jewish venues from the Black Sea in the south, to the Germanic tribes west, to the Baltic Sea in the north, and east to present day Russia. The music incorporated elements from Moldavia, Ottoman Turks, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukraine, and present day Romania,. Gypsy music was also an integral part of the Klezmer repertoire. Primarily meant for weddings ( which lasted one week), early instrumentation was one or two violins, a tsimbl ( hammer dulcimer and/or a bass fiddle. Later on in the 19th century the clarinet, trumpet, flute, bass, drum and accordion was added. The Holocaust decimated these muscians and nearly sent Klezmer to extinction. A resurgence came in the 1970's and today enjoys an ever increasing audience.
