|
|
 |
CD Review
|
| Click Here to go back. |
The Beat Magazine, CD Review >>
Good heavens, what's this? A children's chorus on a Klezmatics song? Okay, it's not as scary as kids crooning with Insane Clown Posse, but hearing Lorin Skamberg's crystalline tenor answered by a faux-Hasidic boys' chorus on the excessively cheerful traditional romp "Tepel” is disorienting, to say the least. Like every one of the New York City-based klezmer ensemble's albums, Rise Up! Shteyt Oyf! (Rounder) combines brilliant musicianship with inventive arrangements, a dash of show biz, and nerviness to spare. "Kats un Moyz" (Cat and Mouse) interrupts the wailing horns and reeds of a feverish Balkan-flavored instrumental bash with a piano solo by guest Steve Sandberg that duplicates the discursive irreverence of a Cuban keyboard break right down to the Yiddish-Latin montuno riff that signals the re-entrance of the band, Holly Near's "I Ain't Afraid" with its titular "rise up" refrain gets an English-Yiddish lyric treatment along with guest vocals by Adrienne Cooper, Sherryl Marshall and Maddi Myles, "I Ain't Afraid of your Yahweh," " …Allah" or “ ...Jesus," they sing in a ditty particularly appropriate to our times, "I' m afraid of what you do in the name of your god," and if the anthem goes on a little bit too long, hop to the slightly shorter "English Edit" of the song at the end of the disc. Alongside the innovations, Rise Up! nourishes continuity with klezmer roots via the accordion and cimbalon opening to "Bulgars #2 (Tantsn Un Shpringen)," a scratchy 78 rpm-record introduction to "Davenen (Prayer)," and "PeretsTants," a mostly a cappella piece written by founding member Frank London, which explores a folksy, almost-street-corner doo-wop side of Yiddish music. All that's missing on this disc are the spine- tingling electric violin solos from the now departed Alicia Svigals, but Rounder's new reissues of seminal Klezmatics albums Shvaygn = Toyt and Rhythm + Jews help fill the void with plenty of Svigals' fine fiddling. -Bob Tarte 06/01/03
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
