Definition
Rebbe Elimelekh by Anatoly Kaplan
‘Klezmer’ is a Yiddish term, combining the Hebrew words ‘kley’ -vehicle, instrument- and ‘zemer’ -song-, thus meaning ‘vehicle of the song’ (A.Z. Idelsohn), i.e. ‘music instrument’.
Originally associated with illiterate musicians unable to read notes and playing traditional music by ear. Nowadays, the term is now used to describe traditional Jewish music of Eastern Europe, as well as all its modern offshoots
Origins
Klezmer music originated in the ‘shtetl’ (villages) and the ghettos of Eastern Europe
An image of the shofar, or ram's horn.
When the second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 C.E. the Jews were plunged into a mourning period and refrained from rejoicing and using instruments, except for the shofar(ram’s horn) on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Depiction of Klezmorim during the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages the use of musical instruments began once again, used at at profane events and some joyful religious feasts like Purim, Khanukah or Simkhat Torah.
Jewish musicians, known as ‘klezmorim‘, professional or not, wandered through Eastern Europe, from “shtetl” (village) to ghetto to perform at various joyful occasions (‘simkhes’) like birthdays, new rabbi’s or a new Tora roll’s arrival, celebrity’s visit, synagogue’s inauguration, circumcisions (‘bris’) and especially weddings (‘khasene’).
They were often poor and had reputations of preferring alcohol and women over studying the Torah, earning them a semi-pariah like status on the ‘yikhes’ (social ladder), but over time they became very high in demand.
Inspirations
The inspiration for this music mostly came from secular melodies, popular dances, ‘khazones‘ (khazanut, Jewish liturgy) as well as by the ‘nigunim‘, the simple and often wordless melodies, intended by the ‘Hasidim‘ (orthodox Jews) for approaching God in a kind of ecstatic communion.
After coming in contact with Slavonic, Greek, Ottoman (Turkish), Gypsy and -later- American jazz musicians, using typical scales, tempo and rhythm changes, slight dissonance and a touch of improvisation, the ‘klezmorim‘ acquired the ability to evoke all kinds of emotions, through a very diversified music.
Instruments
Violin
Favored because it was easier to flee a pogrom with a fiddle than with a piano!
The fiddle embodied the essence of Klezmer style and sound and soon became the symbol
Violin surviving Klezmer piece from Hungary.
Flute
Clarinet
Brought in the second half of the nineteenth century
The Klezmer clarinetist acquired a better social status than the fiddlers did. The moaning sound of the clarinet (especially the C-tuned) was perfectly adapted to the Jewish style
Cimbalom
a hammered dulcimer with a hundred strings
Accordion & piano
Expensive, less used by Klezmorim in Europe
In America piano became more widely used when immigrants tried to assimilate
Klezmer Music in America
Many Jews left Eastern Europe in the late 19th century seeking prosperity in America. These immigrants Harry Kandel, Abe Schwartz , Dave Tarras , or their descendants ( Max Epstein (1913-2000), made Klezmer survive after the Holocause and even flourish as dance and entertainment music. But the music underwent such deep transformation that we have a very skewed notion of how it sounded in Eastern Europe (Mark Slobin).
Klezmer music continued to be used as celebration music, and elements can often be heard at Jewish weddings today.
Below is Dave Tarras’s Chusen Kala Mazel Tov (“Congratulations Bride & Groom”)
Dances
Sher Dance
A German shepherd’s couple dance, is similar to the American square dance or to the Russian quadrille (‘krokadil’), played in a medium or fast tempo.
Below is Abe Schwartz and his Orchestra’s “Sher Medley”
Bulgar Dance
A dance from Bessarabia (Romania) and not from Bulgaria (where most of the Jews were Sephardim!) similar to the Israeli hora, done in circle, in lines, or in couples. It was very popular in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. It is played on a lento, medium or fast tempo.
Below is Harry Kandel’s Kiever Bulgar.
