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CD Review
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The Guardian (UK), CD Review >>
WORLD
*THE KLEZMATICS WITH JOSHUA NELSON & KATHRYN FARMER*
Brother Moses Smote the Water (Piranha)
Over the years, world music has given us just about every
fusion imaginable, and even as we speak someone is probably
planning a salsa-crunk crossover or inventing gamelan-grime. But/
Brother Moses Smote the Water is something genuinely groundbreaking. You may have seen the Klezmatics' appearance as Charlotte's wedding band in Sex and the City, but away from such TV cameos the six-piece New York band have been in the vanguard of
the revival of Jewish klezmer music for almost 20 years.
Just over a year ago, they embarked on a project to unite
the "freedom songs" of both the Jewish and Christian traditions, bringing together Yiddish songs and the spirituals of the African-American gospel, many of which take their inspiration from the journey from slavery made by biblical Jews.
Recruiting renowned gospel singers Joshua Nelson and Kathryn
Farmer, they've created a joyous dialogue between different cultures
and musical styles that finds gospel voices singing traditional Passover
songs, and Jewish clarinets gracing inspirational favourites such as
Mahalia Jackson's/ Walk/ in/ Jerusalem/ and Sam Cooke's/ Mary Don't You Weep. Recorded live, it's not so much a world music fusion as a spiritual transformation, and the result is as soulful as it is
uplifting. ****
NIGEL WlLLIAMSON
02/07/05
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