A rare mid-week opportunity to revel in distinctive and traditional Eastern European music comes to Orcas Island this Wednesday, as Orcas Center presents one performance only of the Grammy-Award winning Klezmatics on Wednesday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m.
The Klezmatics appear at the Center as part of a season of performances that includes world music and dance from Scotland, Mexico, Japan and the Aleutian Islands .
The Klezmatics are globally-renowned world music superstars, emerging out of the vibrant cultural scene of New York City’s East Village in 1986 with klezmer steeped in Eastern European Jewish tradition and spirituality.
They incorporate contemporary themes with eclectic musical influences including Arab, African, Latin and Balkan rhythms, jazz and punk. In the course of over twenty years and nine albums they have continued making music that is wild, mystical, provocative, reflective and ecstatically danceable. (Remember the wedding dance sequence in “Fiddler on the Roof” just before the storm troopers destroyed the celebration? That’s one of the strains of Klezmer music).
Klezmer, meaning “musician” in Yiddish, developed in the 15th-16th centuries in Eastern Europe as a secular Jewish musical form. Klezmer music has influences from the traditions of Baltic, Meditteranean and Roma (gypsy) cultures, French café music and early jazz. With much other Jewish culture, klezmer music was almost decimated during the Holocaust but during the latter half of the 20th century, there has been a resurgence of interest in klezmer. The sound has traditionally been made with violin, flute, clarinet, cimbalom (hammered dulcimer), accordion and cello.
Over the years the Klezmatics have had the privilege of working with many musical luminaries, including visionary American folksingers Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, classical virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, Israeli pop icons Chava Alberstein and Ehud Banai, singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant and Beat poet legend Allen Ginsberg. The Klezmatics have performed on Late Night with David Letterman, PBS’ Great Performances, BBC’s Rhythms of the World, and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor among many other television programs. T
They have performed in over twenty countries at some of the most storied venues and festivals worldwide. The Klezmatics have topped the Billboard world music charts on numerous occasions and have garnered numerous awards and accolades throughout their career, including the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album for their cd Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie.
Tickets for the 7:30 pm concert are $24, $16 for Orcas Center members, and $10 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.orcascenter.org or call or 360/376-2281 ext 1 during box office hours, Thursday-Saturday, noon – 4 pm.
