Last nite after a rocking good Rebs set (if I must say so myself), which included Josh (sax), Hayden (clarinet) and Dean (trombone) jamming with us on Od Yishama and Grine Kuzine, Oy Azoy did their own set and Urs stepped up and wailed away with a flurry of note noodles (note kugels?) that had us all amazed. Great to hear Oy Azoy myspace.com/oyazoy with a new angle on klezmer – kind of a pacific reggae-ska thing with some klezmer overtones – shall we call it Jamaican kugel? Or as Dr McCoy would say to Captain Kirk: “It’s klezmer Jim, but not as we know it.”
I loved the arrangements of the sax/clarinet/trombone trio.
Here’s a first for the Klezmer Rebs – young, exciting and just finished the Certificate in DJ and Electronic Music DJ course at Whitireia Polytech, DJ Cut Loose (aka Jen) has remixed Od Yishama, which is part of a medley on the 13th track of the Rebs latest CD Just add shmaltz.
Cut Loose was given the Rebs’ pre-mastered tracks from the song and has transformed it into something very different. Yishama-o-rama she calls it. You can listen to it right now!
Simon Sweetman published a short review of the Klezmer Reb’s CD Just Add Shmaltz in The Dominion Post, Friday 2 October 2009, in the Entertainment section, page B6. From the review:
If you have enjoyed The Benka Borodovsky Bordello Band or The Jews Brothers, then The Klezmer Rebs will be to your taste…. It’s thigh-slapping music that is likely to be returning to a Botanic Garden concert near you.
In the Listener (26 September – 2 October 2009, page 43) Ian Dando gives a great review of the Reb’s latest CD Just Add Shmaltz:
This Wellington octet can let their hair down and swing Jewish wedding music with energetic solos just where it matters on clarinet, violin and trumpet, with spontaneous lead singing to match. Clarinet solos are wildly creative in their Russian-flavoured Ochi Chorniye. There are some crackers when they leave traditional klezmer and write their own, especially the opening Kumt Kumt Chaverim, with its catchy refrains gyrating tonally between E minor and B flat major. The Rebs offer genuine in-style klezmer sonority, played with bubbling festivity.
You can get Just Add Shmaltz in fine music shops now. This photo was taken at The CD & DVD Store at Wellington Airport. Yeah, that’s us right next to Fat Freddy’s Drop! If your favourite shop doesn’t have a copy, ask them to order through Ode Records.
So ring up Ode chief honcho Roger Marbeck on 09 630 117 and tell him thanks for supporting NZ music. Oh yes, and order a hundred or so for your music shop!
Here’s a track you won’t find on our Just Add Shmaltz CD – because it was too silly, even for us. But thanks to the Internet and our decreased inhibitions, you can now hear us in our full sillier glory:
Wellington's Klezmer and Ethnic music band
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