1st Shirim CD now available at CDBaby.com
The first Shirim CD is among my favorites, and most-listened-to oldies. I am dilatory in getting this notice, from bandleader Glenn Dickson out to the general world. He understates how intensely good this CD. It is the only incarnation of a young Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, then following brilliantly in the footsteps of, and even surpassing the other groundbreaking Boston klezmer revival band, Klezmer Conservatory Band, in presenting klezmer, Yiddish theatre music, and even the new music directions by which most of the world now knows the band and its entirely avant garde side, Naftule's Dream:
I am happy to say that Shirim's first CD, "Of Angels and Horseradish," released initially in 1990 is available for the first time in years on CD Baby at cdbaby.com/cd/shirim4. Please check it out. If you have "Klezmer Nutcracker" or "Pincus and the Pig" you will discover another side of the band on this CD. The dual vocals of Betty Silberman and Rosalie Gerut (reminiscent of the Barry Sisters), dazzling new instrumentals and new Yiddish songs as well as some startling remakes of some old chestnuts (check out the post-bop arrangement of “And the Angels Sing”) combine to make this a CD a grandmother can love but which also turns the heads of the younger crowd.