Soul Music Local Klezmer Band Sure To Be A Hit With This Year’s Audiences At Artfest
What is that sound? The wailing clarinets? The Eastern European inflections? The rhythm that makes you want to dance the hora?
“Jewish soul music,” said Larry Weiser, the leader and founder of the band Chutzpah.
That’s the perfect description, but the real name is klezmer, which means “vessel for the song” or “musical instrument” in Yiddish. The 11-piece Chutzpah is Spokane’s only klezmer orchestra, which is why the band is also known by the initials “SOKO,” which is how you will see them listed in the ArtFest schedule next week.
Klezmer music originated in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe centuries ago. Wherever there was a bar mitzvah or Jewish wedding in Poland or Russia or any other Jewish community, there was klezmer music. Klezmer is good-time dance music - almost like Jewish polka.
Klezmer migrated to America with the waves of Jewish immigrants at the beginning of this century. Soon, it was incorporated into American culture. In fact, most of us have heard it, whether we know it or not.
Remember the Benny Goodman-Andrews Sisters hit “Bei Mir Mist Du Schon”? The violin theme in “Fiddler on the Roof”? The campfire sing-along “Hava Nagila”?
That’s klezmer, or at least music with klezmer influences. A traditional klezmer revival took root in America beginning around the 1970s, reaching a peak last year with an Itzhak Perlman CD and PBS special in which the acclaimed classical violinist plays with bands like the Klezmatics.
Up until three years ago, Spokane had no live klezmer music at all. Weiser, a Gonzaga University law professor and member of Temple Beth Shalom in Spokane, thought that was a shame.
“We have our temple dinner with entertainment every year and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have some klezmer music?’,” said Weiser. “But we didn’t have anybody here who could do it. So I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to get a group together?”’
So he did. He recruited some other temple members and a few musician friends, including the nucleus of the Planet Lounge Orchestra.
“It was a real hit,” said Weiser. “The following year, we added more people, and we were asked to play at ArtFest. This year, it has expanded to 11 players. It exploded.”
About half of the players are members of the temple: Weiser on clarinet, Rick Singer on drums, Shayna Silverstein on violin, and Berdine Bender, Barbara Baumgarten and Mark Chalem on vocals.
The rest are local musicians: Casey MacGill on accordion, Don Thomsen on mandolin, Jesse Thomsen on sax, Eugene Jablonsky on guitar and Brian Flick on bass.
This mix of Jewish and non-Jewish members is unusual in klezmer, but Weiser said the non-Jewish members had no trouble getting into the klezmer spirit.
“It seems like these guys got it and felt it,” said Weiser. “It’s just like you can get the feel for the blues. You just have to have soul.”
The members of Chutzpah aren’t above making a wry visual comment about their multicultural mix: MacGill wore his Scottish kilt along with a Jewish yarmulke at the most recent temple dinner gig.
But some of the Jewish members feel the music from a deep place in their past.
“I certainly grew up listening to this music,” said Bender, who is originally from Chicago. “…My parents are first-generation. My father’s roots are from Russia and Poland, and my mom’s are from Poland. We heard it around the house.”
Weiser played in small dance bands when he was in high school in Fall River, Mass. He played every kind of music that people requested, including klezmer tunes.
“One summer, I actually played in a resort in the Catskills,” said Weiser. “I learned a lot there.”
Weiser soon had to choose between music and law school. He chose law school, and now he, like most other members of Chutzpah, has to squeeze rehearsals around a busy professional schedule.
Chutzpah has an uncommonly high percentage of doctoral degrees.
In fact, all three vocalists have the title Dr. in front of their names: Bender is an internist, Chalem is a psychiatrist and Baumgarten is a psychotherapist.
The singers have more to learn than just the music. Most of their songs are sung in Yiddish, with occasional English verses so the audience can catch the meaning. They also do one or two songs in Hebrew.
The songs have names such as “Zei Gezundt,” “Chosen Kale Mazel Tov,” “Ale Brider” and “Cuando El Rey Nimrod.”
Wait a minute? “Cuando El Rey”? Isn’t that Spanish?
Yes, from a Spanish branch of klezmer music called Ladino. It dates from the 1300s in Spain, before the Inquisition devastated the Spanish Jews.
Wherever there was a Jewish population, there was a klezmer tradition.
And now it looks like Spokane will have its own klezmer tradition, at least for a few specially selected events a year, and maybe even a bar mitzvah or two.
“I’d like to keep the band going, keep it fluid,” said Weiser. “It’s just a fun time.”
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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Festival ArtFest ‘96, featuring art, music, food and more, will be held on the grounds of the Cheney Cowles Museum, 2316 W. First, Friday from noon to 8:30 p.m., June 1 from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and June 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (See this coming Thursday’s IN Life for a complete preview.)