MUSIC BOX: Wordly grooves, Yiddish tunes

By Aaron Davis (12.08.11 for Jackson Hole Weekly, JHWeekly.com) Jackson Hole, Wyo.-It goes without saying that Wyoming isn’t the most convenient of markets to get to. Winter complicates this further. So when a Grammy-winning, genre-defining band like The Klezmatics—who have performed in more than 20 countries and released 10 albums—make it to our tiny dot in the hemisphere, it’s a special thing.Yiddish phrase “Farshafn a sakh freyd un fargenign,” in English means, “to give much joy and pleasure.” This is the undercurrent that has enabled the New York City-based Jewish roots band to not only stay active, but also flourish by progressing the world music genre of klezmer. Celebrating its 25th year as a band is a rare anniversary for any creative project, and the benefits are unleashed through the music.“We did this outdoor dance party last night in midtown Manhattan for Lincoln Center, and having played together for so long, we can just go into dance medleys of tunes that we haven’t played in 10 years,” explained founding member Frank London. “One of the big debates in the band for this tour was whether to learn on new material or old stuff. But when we are in a place that we’ve never been before [like Wyoming], we might say to ourselves, ‘let’s make sure we do this, this and this,’ give people more of a sense of the complete Klezmatics.”A sextet, The Klezmatics instrumentation includes London on trumpet, keys and vocals, along with accordion, guitar, bass, tsimbl (Jewish hammered dulcimer), kaval (end-blown flute), clarinet, saxophone, and violin. For those not familiar, klezmer music is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic, Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe, who brought the genre with them when they arrived to the U.S. between 1880 and 1924. The traditional sounds are unmistakably ornamented by florid, expressive melodies.While the genre was born to be functional dance tunes and instrumental pieces for weddings and other celebrations, The Klezmatics’ style has evolved to produce politically and musically interesting recordings that helped to change contemporary Yiddish culture. It’s a hybrid of old and new that appeals to a wider audience, and thrives from a technically demanding tension of flow between a straightforward, steady beat to a syncopated pulse—not unlike the Latin clave. To this listener, it’s bold, quirky, exotic and worldly, all rolled up into one.“We see ourselves as continuing the dialogue with the tradition by studying old klezmer recordings and taking ideas from them, adding to our options when performing,” London said.Though niche in its exoticism, The Klezmatics have certainly been accessible to the mainstream as well. The band has appeared on TV programs as diverse as Late Night with David Letterman and Sex and the City, as well as radio shows like BBC’s John Peel Show and NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion. Its latest two-disc release, Live at Town Hall, combined with a tell-all documentary about the band’s struggle to stay afloat for so long, The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground, will give you insight as to why they are universally regarded as the most innovative klezmer band.“We usually let our December touring be our Hanukkah party tour, so we tend to pull out material from our album, Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah,” London added. “And we encourage dancing.”The Center for the Arts presents The Klezmatics, 7 p.m., Sunday, Center Theater. $25. JHCenterForTheArts.org or 733-4900. tags: jackson hole music musician live band singer songwriter nightlife concerts wyoming center arts photographer  planet teton venues screen door porch boondocks guitar