Klezmer

Sitting with Jerry in his studio in Hamburg, northern Germany, together with 11 Germans and playing with Andy from Sacramento, USA, the Israeli National Anthem (Hatikvah - Hope) on 12 banjos was kind of , well, special.
This tune is very similar to the „Vltava“ by Smetana, surely he had heard the tune being played by some Klezmorim (for wikipedia go here) - or was it vice versa? Or both of them have worked on an even older tune? Who knows, I don´t.
Anyway, it's Eastern European music material that can be played with American banjos too. It's been a lot of fun! Every now and then even the 5th string was part of the melody, which happens very rarely in the Appalachians, I think.

My favourite piece this evening was "Broygens Tants" (the "dance of the parents in law“). We have learned from Andy that the klezmers in the old days in Eastern Europe were people from the lower classes, earning their living with mostly wedding music. For the "Broygens Tants" both parental-partys had to dance together for their first time. So you can imagine while playing how the parents of bride and groom proceed to the dancefloor watching each other in the first part of the tune ("What, my precious daughter is to marry into this family?"), then happily jump and frolic at the end of the dance.
If only I could transfer this mood into playing.... (Andy can...)
I will have to practice some dropthumbs ...

Some of us got infected from Andy's Klezmer fever - at least I got. That's why I immediately ordered his "Freilachmakers" CDs.
Very interesting: CeiliZemer: Shalom Ireland, sort of celic-klezmer-fusion.

Andy plays a very clean clawhammer, the hits and dropthumbs come fast and sparkling, built-in galax-licks, every now and then a thumb-thwack (I think this term was invented just now by myself, hope you know what I mean), a driving rhythm. If I had a banjo that reflects this mixture of plunky and clear sound, I only would need to be able to play fast and beautiful the same time…
OK, I am working on it, the journey is the reward :-)))
I´m afraid playing klezmer should include also a lot of musical knowledge of Eastern European scales, but I leave this topic aside for now. On Sunday evening we did not talk about it anyway. Should go without it at least in the beginning...

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