Wholesale Klezmer, Greenfield, MA, Apr 29, 2007
The Wholesale Klezmer Band, now in its twenty-fifth year of performing Yiddish songs, Hebrew liturgical music, and Eastern European Jewish wedding dance music, will present a concert, "Jewish Music of Peace, Justice and Celebration," at the band's home base, Temple Israel, 27 Pierce Street, Greenfield, on Sunday, April 29, at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $10 per adult $5 per teen and child. The concert is a benefit for Temple Israel.
The Wholesale Klezmer Band has been performing Yiddish music at weddings, bar and bas mitzves, concerts, festivals and schools since 1982. The band performed at Carnegie Hall's 100th Anniversary Celebration of Folk Music, hosted by Pete Seeger, in 1991 and also at a concert celebrating American diversity for Bill Clinton's 1993 Inaugural. Performing in this concert will be: Yosl (Joe) Kurland, (vocals and fiddle), David Tasgal (clarinet, fiddle) Christina Crowder (accordion), Michael Suter (bass viol), Brian Bender (trombone), Richie Davis (percussion), and Peggy Davis (flute & vocals).
Among the music featured in the April 29 concert will be:
- Music for traditional Jewish weddings including Badkhones—a traditional wedding jester's humorous advice to a bride-in Yinglish
- A humorous vaudeville song about atoning for one's foibles last brought up to date with new verses in 1990, but suddenly a propos again after last November's election
- Yosl Kurland's version of the classic Yiddish song, Motl der Operayter, about a striking worker killed on the picket line, brought up to date with verses about third world sweatshops
- A Yiddish/Hungarian medley including a melody for Dovid Melekh Yisroel
- The biblical story of Isaac and Ishmael, ancestors of the Jewish and Arab peoples, pleading for them to make peace with each other
- Plenty of happy and sad, lively and meditative klezmer tunes.
The concert will kick off a week of events at Temple Israel to celebrate the installation of a photovoltaic system to supply power for the eternal light in the Temple's sanctuary. The week will end with a concert by the Amandla chorus. For information about other events in the series and for directions to Temple Israel or facts about the congregation, call 413-773-5884.
Future public events on the Wholesale Klezmer Band's calendar include:
July 11th, Wednesday Folk Traditions concert at the Porter Phelps Huntington Museum in Hadley, MA
July 17th, concert at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA
For almost 90 years, Greenfield's Temple Israel, the only synagogue in Franklin County, Mass., has served the spiritual and cultural needs of Jews in the Pioneer Valley and maintained a strong commitment to the community's interfaith activities. Formally affiliated with the Conservative Movement, Temple Israel recognizes the diversity of its membership by incorporating liturgical and cultural elements associated with all Jewish movements. Located at 27 Pierce Street in Greenfield, the synagogue offers a full range of educational, cultural and social programs for children, adults and families under the leadership of. Rabbi Efraim Eisen. For more information about membership and programs, call 413-773-5884.