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Klezmer music is traditionally played at Jewish weddings and holiday celebrations in Eastern Europe. New York-based klezmer band Golem (named after the legendary Jewish Frankenstein of Prague) has infused the World Music scene with a breath of fresh air by injecting Eastern European melodies and Old World songs with ferocious energy, sex, and humor.The album includes tracks in Yiddish, Russian, French, Serbian, and Ladino, each a different story of love and pain set to its own driving beat.
"Gathered from source material from all over Eastern Europe, and from other locations as diverse as Jewish nursing homes in the Bronx to gypsy taverns in Belgrade, Serbia. The six member group then transforms the material and creates something new and all its own.
The music gets increasingly interesting when you follow along with the lyric sheet, in which the lyrics have been translated. The topics of the songs are sometimes strange; for example, the lyrics from a Russian traditional called "Spitting Song": "An old man sits down to think about getting married again. He thinks and thinks and thinks... If I take an old wife, my equipment might not stand up to the job... But if I take a young wife, she might not love me... And even if she loved me, she might not kiss me... And if she kissed me, she'd turn and spit on the floor... He sits and thinks and thinks... and thinks... Maybe getting married again isn't such a good idea."
All in all, I think this CD serves as a good palette cleanser because personally, I don't own any other klezmer albums, so putting this on in between hardcore and punk CDs works very nicely - a danceable beat, melody, and topnotch musicality which everyone can appreciate. Its different enough that it transitions well to pretty much anything. Also, Golem is probably is available to play for your next wedding or bar mitzvah."
01. Mekhaye
02. Spitting Song
03. Skrip Klezmerl
04. Balkan Espanol
05. Tire L'Aiguille
06. Dead Cossack, The
07. Madre Mia
08. Mesecina
09. Papirosn
10. Black Cat White Cat
11. Rivke
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
