The Metropolitan Klezmer
Will Be Playing Latin Music Live!
SETS FROM 11:00AM-3:30PM
HAILED AS “ONE OF THE FINEST AMERICAN KLEZMER BANDS”, Metropolitan Klezmer performs an exhilarating range of musical treasure with astonishing agility and refreshing depth. The group is now celebrating its 20th anniversary with their fifth album, Mazel Means Good Luck — recorded live at The Emelin Theatre (including bonus tracks from Cooper Union Great Hall and J. Edgar Klezmer) and released in December, 2014. Touring coast-to-coast and broadcast worldwide (on HBO, PRI, NPR, WDR and many others), this collaborative adventure of exceptional New York musicians combines the best of downtown, classical and World Music scenes to create inspired neo-traditional interpretations and compositions around a panoply of eclectic Yiddish repertoire: ethereal trance, rollicking dance, imaginatively-arranged Yiddish swing and tango, plus genre-expanding originals such as klezmer cumbia. Metropolitan Klezmer bandmates bring together stylistic backgrounds from Latin jazz to funk and folk, zydeco and reggae to baroque, complete with panoramic instrumental array and multi-lingual vocals. Under the leadership of drummer-archivist Eve Sicular, the ensemble also explores such lesser-known gems as Soviet Yiddish theater melodies and drinking songs, gorgeous overlooked soundtrack tunes from vintage films set in Eastern Europe and the Lower East Side, and unexpected musical angles which transform familiar favorites from the inside out. Time Out New York extols the group: “Metropolitan Klezmer takes a scholarly approach to the genre’s history, yet never skimps on the exuberance at its core.”