David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness! begins the series on February 2, playing a Golijov composition written especially for the clarinetist, plus several other songs for which the composer feels a particular attachment.

Krakauer himself was born into a home where classical music reigned. As a teen he developed a second love, for jazz. He pursued successful careers in both fields, then began playing klezmer "as a hobby" at senior citizens' centers, where residents were nostalgic for the fading genre that had been born in Eastern European shtetls.

In the late 1980s, the clarinetist was asked by The Klezmatics to tour Europe with them. To the surprise of all, they found themselves performing for "thousands of screaming, dancing, partying, young, non-Jewish people," he recalls. The group helped fuel a revival of klezmer, and Krakauer says, "For me, I found a musical home where I could wear all my musical hats." Although he continues to love classical music and jazz, he adds that, when he plays klezmer, "I feel like I'm singing through the clarinet."

Krakauer's current Klezmer Madness! lineup includes the Jewish DJ-turntablist Socalled, with whom he has collaborated several times. By inserting sampling and hip-hop scratching into klezmer, it's as if the two have added a pacemaker to klezmer's aging heart--it is still your bubbe's klezmer, but with some new get-up-and-go.

-Marty Lipp