Press Reviews for Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos

Reviews of SURPRISING FINDS

Joint reviews of Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos

Reviews of MOSAIC PERSUASION (2001),
featuring guest artists the all-female Isle of Klezbos

Reviews of YIDDISH FOR TRAVELERS (1998)
& select late 20th-century press coverage

Reviews of SURPRISING FINDS

OutMusic Award winner, 2004
2003 Pick for The Phat Planet's Top 30 World Music Artist Releases
http://thephatplanet.com (U.K. World Music site)
WRUW World Music Top Ten list, June - July 2003

Third charming release and a live compilation from Tonic, the Knit and Joes' Pub. This local klez sensation has been around for nearly a decade and covers traditional klezmer songs as well as a handful of engaging originals. - Downtown Music Gallery, NYC

Heart-opening recordings, joyful, introspective, and mindful of the world, played exuberantly by stellar musicians... A very wonderful treat.
- Linda Dailey Paulson (Ventura CA), Dirty Linen Folk & World Music Magazine, December 2003-January 2004
To read a fuller excerpt click here

Top-class klezmer... On their third CD, the Metros unveil ...a somewhat more "traditional" approach, with Michael Hess's zither taking a more prominent role on tunes like "Terkisher Navratilova," and big-band swing dominating on "Ot Azoy Neyt a Schneyder" and "Shpil du Fidl, Shpil." Deborah Karpel's vocals... have settled into a more relaxed, comfortable groove, and the use of old home recordings by her grandfather is a charming device.... The engine that drives the Metros is undoubtedly the band's drummer-leader, Eve Sicular. A polymath who lectures on Yiddish film when she isn't behind her drum-kit...
- George Robinson, Songlines - The World Music Magazine (U.K.), November/December 2003 & Jewish Week (NYC), 9/26/2003
To read the full article click here.

Talk about a surprising find! ... the absolute best in the klezmer style. Whoever listens to Metropolitan Klezmer opens the encyclopedia of klezmer. It's a history lesson. Every song has the right liner notes and information on the original composers and performers in the accompanying booklet. Musically everything fits. All styles get their turn, from pieces of Yiddish musicals, from jazzy swing, pure Balkan, tango, and waltzes to a few very strong wedding dances. Some of the songs are presented live, others are medleys that fit together seamlessly and four short pieces are live recordings of Deborah Karpel's grandfather, taped in the mid-Sixties... A mandatory buy for the true lover of Klezmer, to whom I also recommend visiting their website. It is as well-tended as the CD's and booklets.
- "RootsTown" [Belgium] #57, 8/11/03 translated from Flemish;
for full article, click here

Metropolitan Klezmer is one of (I'd argue strongly for *the*, but I'm sure of universal agreement on "one of") the best klezmer bands in the world today....Surprising Finds, the group's third release, though, takes them to an even higher level, although I might not have believed such a thing was possible before hearing it... a delightfully multi-dimensional view of a musical form that is far too easily stereotyped, not only by those unfamiliar with its range, but unfortunately by some of its practitioners as well... Metropolitan Klezmer is anything but stereotypical, and nothing but terrific.
- Shaun Dale, Cosmik Debris (cosmik.com)
To read the full article click here.

An apt title as this well-established 8-piece klezmer orchestra sift through evidence of the Jewish socialist tradition. On a fine selection of traditional tunes the group seek out the history of Jewish people arriving and becoming established in America, of the labour disputes and anti-semitic practices which kept Jews out of the mainstream work force. Not all of the tunes here are from tradition, though, there are some self-penned pieces here, such as the moving 'Dreaming wizard' which focusses on the separateness of Jews in American society in the early years of the 20th century. Other subjects are covered, too, with a tribute to the Soviet Yiddish Theatre which was eventually quashed by the paranoid Stalin. Overall, a great album celebrating the vibrant and living tradition that is klezmer - serious, melancholy, exhilarating and funny by turns - witness the mad Balkan groove recklessly driving the band's cover of the Fagin masterpiece 'Pick a pocket or two'. The first 30 seconds of the album ... the band whip with humour and style into the opening 'Uncle Moses' Wedding Dance'. Brilliant, breathless stuff.
- The Phat Planet World Music website (UK),
http://thephatplanet.com/ with a clip from Uncle Moses' Wedding Dance

Long one of New York City's tightest klezmer dance bands, the band uses its new CD to explore more deeply into Yiddish and (especially) Jewish Socialist roots, and to emphasize their own continuity with tradition. I call special attention to the album's title, "Surprising Finds," which is also the album's theme. There are other old recordings, including a couple of songs by Philip Karpel, the grandfather of Metropolitan Klezmer vocalist Debra.

Opening with a clip from the movie "Uncle Moses" to which they append their own modern version of the same, the band mixes lovely Yiddish theatre vocals, incredible instrumentals, both thoughtful and dynamic, and even manages an incredible balkan brass rearrangement of "Pick a Pocket or Two." The liner notes are especially illuminating in this case, as we learn a bit of closeted Jews and gays (or both, as one person in this case) in the entertainment industry in the '60s.

Metropolitan Klezmer has achieved something very special with this album. They can't get much better musically. Instead, they have dug more deeply into history, bringing back live fragments, recreating others, and even, as with Pam Fleming's lovely "Dreaming Wizard," creating their own tradition. In the process, the band makes us more aware of the cultural struggles and diversity of Jews (especially labor struggles of migrants to the United States and England, but not limited to then, and not limited to labor issues) in the last century. Despite the focus on the West, there is a lovely suite here in tribute to the Soviet Yiddish Theatre. Not many realize that in the decades following the Soviet revolution there existed a vibrant avant garde Yiddish Theatre, until destroyed by Stalin's paranoia. The point isn't just to present older music (and some new tunes) that we might not yet know, but to use that as an excuse to make us aware of our own history. That the band can do this and still strengthen their reputation as one of the premier Klezmer bands performing today, is an additional testament as to the skill and excitement they bring to their music. Indeed, several tracks here were recorded live, in a small club in NYC--one even features Howie Leess, member of the original band, now retired to Rochester, NY, but here recorded in 1994.

Special mention should also be given to careful and copious liner notes, and to excellent typography in integrating the Yiddish with transliteration and English. This is the way to do it.

This is my favorite Metropolitan Klezmer album yet, something I have said about each of the earlier albums, but here say even louder. If you are new to the band's sound, start here. Then work your way back. You'll enjoy.
- Ari Davidow, KlezmerShack site, June 8, 2003
www.klezmershack.com/bands/metklez/finds/metklez.finds.html

"Surprising Finds" traverses a great deal of ground, musically and historically. In addition to Metropolitan Klezmer originals, there are revamped songs from the Yiddish stage and Soviet theater and long-forgotten Yiddish favorites, as well as snippets of song from Karpel's grandfather, settings of 19th-century Yiddish poetry and even a tune from "Oliver." Its liner notes alone provide a veritable yidishkayt survey, lovingly and literately recounting the provenance of each of the songs while bringing to life a half-dozen different worlds, often including original Yiddish lyrics printed side-by-side their transliterations and English translations. "The challenge" in finding old treasures and transforming them into something new and wonderful, said Sicular, is "to go beyond the mainstream."
- Erica Brody, The Forward 5/9/2003
for full article, click here

I FINALLY saw Metropolitan Klezmer on Christmas Day. Snow, freezing rain, and an exceptionally warm and enriching experience. I'm so happy I went. Eve Sicular (recipient of the 2002 OMA for Outstanding Producer) is a marvel -- as is every member of the group.
- Ed Mannix, OUTMusic, 12/26/02

BRIGHT SOUNDS, BIG CITY: Metropolitan Klezmer - whose eight New York musicians have since 1994 been breathing new life into traditional klezmer - brings a special holiday set of old and new songs to the Knitting Factory, with a line-up that includes a hodgepodge of yidishkayt: a song from the 1920s world of the Moscow Yiddish theater and even an Old World tailor's song set to a swing rhythm.
- The Forward, 11/22/02

Eight virtuosic musicians bring klezmer back to the Main Space at the Knitting Factory, including new tunes and old favorites.
- Jewish Week (NYC), 11/22/02

With influences that range from old school Arabic music to Latin jazz to Motown, Metropolitan Klezmer interprets aged Yiddish favorites with a mixture of tradition and irreverence. Don't worry if you've never heard of the accordion-rich, Eastern European genre of klezmer. Led by percussionist Eve Sicular, the NYC-based eight-piece produces a sound that is not only exuberantly eclectic but also very danceable. Expect an eccentric cultural lesson from these modern-day purveyors of time-honored traditions.
- Jen Bachman, flavorpill.net, 11/26/02

"Fantastic players... excellent vocals... strength and diversity"
- Scott Atkinson, RootsWorld Bulletin 2001

"Eclectic and sizzling klezmer"
- The (NY) Jewish Week "Second Front" page, 4/20/01

"Excellent klezmer...impeccable yet electrifying arrangements"
- Richard Gehr, The Village Voice 5/15/2000

One of the greatest klezmer bands I've ever heard - Metropolitan Klezmer. I had to find a way to include them in this broadcast!
- The Hot Club, Australia (www.tripod.com), 2000

Read the preview pre-review by Ari Davidow:
www.klezmershack.com/archives/000047.html

Joint reviews of Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos

A raucous pre-Hanukkah present of local klezmer powerhouses... soup up old-world music [with] hard-swinging ... contemporary style scrambling. Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer, who share members, lend unexpected twists to their respective repertoires of Hasidic compositions, Yiddish theater tunes, and free-ranging dance numbers.
- Richard Gehr, Village Voice, 12/17/03

Surprising Finds, by NYC's Metropolitan Klezmer, [features Ismail] Butera's lightning fingers. Their interpretation of klezmer flirts with the city's thriving Balkan and Middle Eastern scenes, and when they do go down this route, the results are so good -- Terkisher Navratilova, for example, arranged superbly for the qanun -- that you wonder why they don't do it more often. On the rest of the album, the band put on their New York jazz hat and focus instead on more straight-up instrumental klezmer/Yiddish theatre tunes...

The very New York-named Isle of Klezbos is MK's sister (or should that be sistah?) group, and right from the off this all-female band feel ... commanding, in a superb jazz-inflected romp through some instrumental classics.... [T]here is humour and some great playing, especially from Pam Fleming on trumpet and flugelhorn and Eve Sicular on drums....
- Lemez Lovas, fROOTS [Folk Roots] magazine, U.K. December 2003

It seems there has been a resurgence in klezmer music in recent years. Perhaps international politics has elicited a musical response? Or perhaps it's a simple matter of one particular reviewer being more attentive to the genre. Whatever the case, there is cause for rejoicing. More good recordings representative of modern klezmer...

Although it probably isn't wholly kosher to lump them together, Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer are very similar in approach and feel. There is a strong emphasis on interpreting traditional songs. The bands share Pam Fleming, Deborah Karpel, Debra Kreisberg, and Eve Sicular, in common. And both projects were produced by Sicular, mixed by the same team. Um, and the Klezbos' special guests are... surprise! members of Metropolitan Klezmer.

Klezbos highlights are difficult to select. There's the upbeat invitation to party that is "Klezmerengue," the sinuously hypnotic "Revery in Hijaz" with stunning horn work by Fleming and an understated Kreisberg (also rendered live), and "East Hapsburg Waltz," an original by Sicular. The "surprising finds" that Metropolitan Klezmer makes are musical treasures on Yiddish and mainstream film, as well as home recordings. They've rediscovered "Pick a Pocket or Two" from Oliver! and many traditional folk tunes. Part of the charm of this CD is that all these influences are incorporated into this modern recording seamlessly. The shining vocalist is Philip Karpel, grandfather of Deborah Karpel, recorded circa 1960. His a cappella voice is on four brief tracks. There are also four tracks capturing the group performing live. It's a very wonderful treat....

Each of these are very heart-opening recordings, joyful, introspective, and mindful of the world, played exuberantly by stellar musicians.
- Linda Dailey Paulson (Ventura CA), Dirty Linen Folk & World Music Magazine, December 2003-January 2004

Two top-class klezmer outings
Metropolitan Klezmer: Surprising Finds
& Isle of Klezbos: Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos
On their third CD, the Metros unveil a somewhat revamped lineup with the departure of original Metro sax player Steve Elson as the most significant change. Happily, Debra Kreisberg, who had joined the band for the previous set, takes over the reeds seat quite nicely. What results is a slight shift in emphasis from the frequently post-bop inflected improvisations of the band's first two albums to a somewhat more "traditional" approach, with Michael Hess's zither taking a more prominent role on tunes like "Terkisher Navratilova," and big-band swing dominating on "Ot Azoy Neyt a Schneyder" and "Shpil du Fidl, Shpil." Deborah Karpel's vocals, which seemed a bit too self-conscious on the first two sets, have settled into a more relaxed, comfortable groove, and the use of old home recordings by her grandfather is a charming device....

The engine that drives the Metros is undoubtedly the band's drummer-leader, Eve Sicular. A polymath who lectures on Yiddish film when she isn't behind her drum-kit, Sicular has been playing for some time with an all-women's sextet, Isle of Klezbos, much of whose personnel overlaps with Metropolitan Klezmer. They've been playing around New York for a few years now and this debut CD was eagerly awaited. And justly so. Moodier, perhaps darker and certainly pitched to slower tempi than the Metros' set, this is a satisfying first effort that allows the soloists to stretch a bit, while Sicular keeps rock-solid time as usual. There is a sense of playfulness here that is refreshing, with one-off experiments like 'Klezmerengue' and three sharply etched live cuts to round off the set. Trumpeter Pam Fleming, also a Metro, makes some particularly telling contributions.
- George Robinson, Songlines - The World Music Magazine (U.K.), November/December 2003 [also excerpted in Jewish Week (NYC), 9/26/03]

"The drummer and founder of Metropolitan Klezmer, Eve Sicular, is also the leader of its all-female offshoot, Isle of Klezbos. Both bands are associated -- just like the Klezmatics -- with Manhattan's edgy incubators of Klezmer music and contemporary urban lifestyles.

"Live recording[s] from Joe's Pub ... grace both new discs: a medley of a doyna, an old nigun, and 'Abi Gezunt' features vocalist Deborah Karpel... a guaranteed crowd-pleaser with lyrics by Molly Picon... Karpel is soulful in the band's spare arrangement of the poignant lullaby 'Unter Beymer' from a 1940 Moyshe Oysher film. Isle's accordionist, Rachelle Garniez, explores fun connections between a Latin merengue party tune and a Yiddish theatre standard; and clarinetist Debra Kreisberg slides Klezmer into Brazil.

"As for Metropolitan Klezmer, among their 'surprising finds' is the 'Shadkhn [matchmaker] Tango from a 1940 Yiddish movie. A Rumanian medley features the fine world-music accordionist Ismail Butera."Short tracks of 1960s home recordings of Karpel's grandfather's warm Yiddish singing voice enrich the album. There's also a suite of songs from the Soviet Yiddish theatre. Album notes cover interesting historical information, including the closet struggles, both as a Jew and a gay man, of Lionel Bart [ne Begleiter], composer of the musical Oliver! from which the band arranges -- in Klezmer style -- the Jewish character Fagin's 'Pick a Pocket or Two'."
- Gigi Yellen-Kohn, Jewish Transcript (Seattle WA) 11/14/03

Sister groups Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos, both based in New York, share several of the same core musicians and an approach that combines scholarly rigor with imaginative leaps of juxtaposition. So on the aptly titled Surprising Finds, "field recordings" of vocalist Deborah Karpel's grandfather rub up against a suite of previously unknown Soviet Yiddish theater tunes and Hungarian Hasidic melodies. "Pick a Pocket or Two" from the Broadway musical Oliver! is reclaimed as a subversive bit of radical Jewish culture, and in an innovative feat of remixing, today's Metropolitan Klezmer lineup plays a medley with a decade-old version of the group.

Debra Kreisberg blows a jazzy alto saxophone on "The Rooster Crows" and trumpeter Pam Fleming stretches her lip as well as her compositional muscles on "Dreaming Wizard," written in the style of a khosidl, a slow Hasidic dance tune. Although there were exceptions, until the revival of the late Twentieth century, klezmer, like jazz and other ethnic folk musics, was played primarily — almost exclusively — by men. The all-female Isle of Klezbos isn't only a historical corrective, however. The playing on the mostly instrumental, mostly traditional Greetings is soulful and also virtuosic. "Goldene Khasene" skips along to a lively beat with Kreisberg's clarinet and Fleming's trumpet playing tag-team leads, egged on by the evocative accordion of Rachelle Garniez. "Klezbos Kolomeyke" is a witty take on a classic slow dance tune, and Latin dance fuses with the classic Yiddish theater tune, "Yosl, Yosl," on "Klezmerengue." Drummer Eve Sicular leads both groups, and she brings her typical attention to detail to the notes on both albums, both of which are worthy additions to any klezmer library.
- Seth Rogovoy, Sing Out! magazine [author, The Essential Klezmer]

Talk about a surprising find! These two bands are the absolute best in the klezmer style. Whoever listens to Metropolitan Klezmer opens the encyclopedia of klezmer. It's a history lesson. Every song has the right liner notes and information on the original composers and performers in the accompanying booklet. Musically everything fits. All styles get their turn, from pieces of Yiddish musicals, from jazzy swing, pure Balkan, tango, and waltzes to a few very strong wedding dances. Some of the songs are presented live, others are medleys that fit together seamlessly and four short pieces are live recordings of Deborah Karpel's grandfather, taped in the mid-Sixties.

In Isle of Klezbos, consisting of six women, there are some members who also play in Metropolitan Klezmer. They don't take themselves overly seriously, as the name of the band and the cover of the cd prove: a kitschy holiday postcard with Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos on it, with a background of sand and seashells. A great find. The music is, just as with MK, of a very high standard of quality. Again with a lot of variety and very swinging. They cover the whole reach of klezmer: hora's, doyna's, Oriental influences, Balkan and wedding party music, even Latin American and Brazilian influences. Anyone who can come up with a title like klezmerengue and compose the music that matches it is working at a high level. That all musicians, both of MK and IOK, play at a rarefied top level is no surprise... Add to this the beautiful vocals of Deborah Karpel and everything comes together. A mandatory buy for the true lover of Klezmer, to whom I also recommend visiting their website. It is as well-tended as the CD's and booklets.
- "RootsTown" issue #57 [Belgium], August 11, 2003 (translated from Flemish)
for full original text, see: www.members.tripod.com/RootsTown</font>

Isle of Klezbos (one of the best band names in town!) are six oft-fetching klezmer ladies whose instruments include flugelhorn and accordion and whose recent Brooklyn-recorded album draws on meringues and Brazilian acoustica as well as 1916 Rumanian horras and Ukrainian songs "suitable for dancing with a bottle on one's head. The eight-member local Metro Klezmer incorporate tuba, violin, and ney flute, and their new album ranges from an 11-minute tango to the one-minute "Der Dish-washer." They also claim a jump-blues influence.
- Chuck Eddy, Village Voice, 6/10/03

Wending Through the World of Yidishkayt Eve Sicular began drumming when she was 8. But it wasn't until her senior year at Harvard - she got her bachelor's in Russian history and literature - that she first heard klezmer. She followed the suggestion of a musician friend and checked out the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Her reaction? "Wow!" In 1989, Sicular attended KlezKamp for the first time, and it was then that the "klezmer bug" took hold. When she found out about the gay and lesbian contingent at KlezKamp, she realized what had for her been three disparate identities - as out lesbian, as Jew and as folk musician - could be reconciled. "I was always feeling I had to have a split personality," she said. These days, Sicular is still splitting herself, but in a good way: She is head of two of New York City's most prominent klezmer ensembles - Metropolitan Klezmer and the all-female Isle of Klezbos, [now celebrating...] the synchronized release of Metropolitan Klezmer's "Surprising Finds" and "Greetings From the Isle of Klezbos."

Sicular laughed easily ...about the twists and turns her life has taken, weaving its way around yidishkayt... [including] a stint, from 1992 to 1994, as film and photo curator at YIVO, where "The Celluloid Closet" by Vito Russo, who died a few years earlier of AIDS, inspired a critical study of her own, "The Celluloid Closet in Yiddish Film," upon which she lectures widely and which appears as an essay in the 2002 anthology "Queer Jews" (Routledge).

In 1994 Metropolitan Klezmer was born, branching out in 1998 to Isle of Klezbos. Sicular was quick to emphasize that while she might tend to "bring the music in... we really are a collaborative process." ...Sicular's multitalented bandmates come from - and are active in - musical projects and genres across the board, encompassing everything from Afro-Caribbean to zydeco, including, but certainly not limited to, ska, salsa, jazz, opera, calypso, R & B, bluegrass and merengue. Most of these influences crop up on the two new albums...

"The challenge" in finding old treasures and transforming them into something new and wonderful, said Sicular, is "to go beyond the mainstream."
- Erica Brody, The Forward 5/9/2003 for full article, click here

"The Three (Musical) Faces of Eve" [music feature, Arts/Culture box] Eve Sicular has been pretty busy lately. The drummer/leader for both Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos has had her hands full with more than just her sticks. For a start, the two bands have been playing all over town, with three gigs coming up this month.

The Metros have added a trombonist, Rick Faulkner, and that means "we've adapted some of the tunes in our existing 'Yiddish For Travelers' and 'Mosaic Persuasion' repertoire to give his big, lyrical sound some room to play," Sicular said in an e-mail last week , referring to the band's excellent CDs. Of course, both bands have been adding new tunes regularly. Sicular and Isle/Metro sax player Debra Kreisberg "each had a burst of original writing specifically for the Klezbos lineup" and the Metros have been involved in a major project, an adaptation of orchestrations from Lev Pulver's Soviet Yiddish Theater (GOSET). Sicular noted, "My major in college was Russian history and literature and the early Soviet creative flowering always intrigues me - and of course its terrible demise makes recognizing what was achieved then even more meaningful... There's some soloing, but the pieces are generally set ensemble works; and it's great how the seven of us, playing eight or nine instruments, really find the voicings to do things which originally were created for about a 27-piece orchestra."

Then there are new tunes from other band members, with the usual Metro/Isle mix of klezmer, Latin, Balkan, Greek and jazz. Simple, nu? And just to keep things interesting, the two bands have been laying down tracks for a joint CD release currently scheduled for the spring, "around Pesach," Sicular reported. Based on a preliminary "snaek preview" disc that went out to a few lucky reviewers, this will be a rocking affair utilizing all the new material plus some live tracks.

Sicular wrote, "We recorded the Klezbos tracks in September shortly after getting back from the West Coast, plus we got in three Metro tunes for that sessio, including the two Moscow Yiddish theater instrumentals we'v been woring on most of this year. Isle of Klezbos will also be in St Louis this January, and right after that we'll settle down to our Metropolitan Klezmer final recording session, this time the rest of the new Metro tunes... (about nine studio cuts).

Given that all the live shows this fall and winter will be featuring the new material from both bands, there's ample reason to catch what is rapidly becoming a veritable Jewish-music conglomerate.
- George Robinson, Jewish Week NYC, 12/6/02

The 17 track Pre-Release Teaser [including select preview tracks from "Surprising Finds" and "Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos"] is, as I write this, being sold at gigs and to klezheads who inquire. It shows MK as continuing on their sturdy, raucous road, while the formally albumless Isle Of Klezbos follows a slightly smoother track. Three of the six energetic MK tracks are live, but the recording is so good, and conversely the production so true, that it is hard to tell. The only full-length "produced" item from the original band is a perky "Tailor's Bounce," which carries a sense of many threads intertwining.

Though IOK also bounces around a lot, for example in the slapstick "Golden Wedding," many of their tracks seem like slow moving clouds of steam, in this case the two bracketing tunes, "Houdini Hora" and sax/clarinetist Debra Kreisberg's ethnojazz composition "Abrah," as well as a much later track, "Revery In Hijaz." Hijaz with trumpet high jazz as well! Another, "Father's Cadenzas," seems always ready to take off, but never does...until it pops into the next track, the short but peppery "My Father's Nigun." The leader of both bands is drummer Eve Sicular, so percussion has clout in all the arrangements, but you might also hear Catherine Popper's bass as rhythm. As for the faster tunes, the unusual one is "Klezmerenge"; IOK throws in a fast merenge accordion run the way some other bands throw in klezmer! Nice solid bands, nice glitch-resistant albums. These are recommended for danceaholics and partygoers from anywhere...but especially those who like those Eastern sounds!
- Judith Gennett The Green Man Review
http://www.greenmanreview.com/cd/cd_klez_twofer.html

Führend in beiden Gruppen ist Eve Sicular (zuvor Mitglied der Mazeltones), und zwar zum einen beim Metropolitan Klezmer (eine der populäreren Klezmerbands New Yorks, gegründet 1994), zum anderen bei Isle of Klezbos (1998). Bereits als 8-Jährige saß sie hinter dem Schlagzeug, es benötigte jedoch erst ein Konzert der legendären Klezmer Conservatory Band, bis sie 1989 während ihres Studiums der russischen Literatur in Harvard gewissermaßen vom Klezmervirus befallen wurde. Pam Fleming, Sicular, Deborah Karpel (Akkordeon) und Debra Kreisberg (Klarinette, Altosax), alle längst volle Mitglieder im Metropolitan Klezmer, holten sich Catherine Popper (Bass) und Rachelle Garniez (Akkordeon), um sich als Frauensextett zusammenzuschließen. Das alleine wäre in der ursprünglich von orthodoxen Juden beherrschten Klezmerwelt schon fast unerhört; nun sind aber dem Vernehmen nach die Musikerinnen auch noch überwiegend lesbisch (der Name Klezbos also sicherlich nicht zufällig gewählt), dafür jedoch umso begehrter als Vertreter des Klezmer auf sog. Gayfestivitäten. Deren erstes Album "Greetings from..." wurde übrigens von der New Yorker Fachpresse genauso einhellig gelobt wie die aktuelle CD des Oktetts Metropolitan Klezmer, "Surprise Findings", die mir persönlich am ausgereiftesten unter den bislang drei Alben erscheint. Ausgezeichnet die informativen CD-Booklets mit meist weitreichenden Informationen über die einzelnen Stücke - recht oft Lieder aus älteren jiddischen, heute kaum mehr erreichbaren Filmen wie "Yiddl mitm Fiddl" oder "Der Luftmentsch". Unter dem gezeigten Einbezug zeitgenössischer kultureller und technischer Elemente wird die jiddische Kultur durchaus am Leben erhalten.
- Matti Goldschmidt, Folker! (German folk, roots and world music publication), May 2003

Reviews of MOSAIC PERSUASION (2001),
featuring guest artists the all-female Isle of Klezbos

OutMusic Award, 2002 [Outstanding Producer/Eve Sicular]
Top Ten lists:
Seth Rogovoy (author, The Essential Klezmer), 2001
George Robinson, Jewish Week, 2001
Ari Davidow's KlezmerShack, 2001
WRUW-FM WorldBeat, 2001

"Metropolitan Klezmer...embraces the protean, polyglot character of klezmer music...with a playful yet authoritative touch, mixing equal parts authenticity and creativity...Consider Eastern Village Hanuka from the album Mosaic Persuasion. Here the band transforms Hanuka Oh Hanuka - a holiday song so common it could be called the Jewish Jingle Bells - into an Eastern-style, odd-meter dance."
- Rob Taube, Our Town (NYC), June 14, 2001

AN ODYSSEY OF NEW KLEZMER RECORDINGS, 2001:
"The terrific new CD 'Mosaic Persuasion'... a snazzy mixture of upbeat Eastern European dance tunes, Middle Eastern-influenced improvisations and luscious Yiddish theater tunes deliverd by vocalist Deborah Karpel with just enough of an edge..." "The album ranges from dignified, small ensemble, Old World-style horas to jazzy, frenetic, big-band style tunes. The playing as always is top-notch, particularly Steve Elson's clarinet, Pam Fleming's trumpet and Eve Sicular's drums. The group subtly twists some tunes rhythmically and contextually, and Deborah Karpel's vocals boast a natural allure so hot it ought to be licensed, taxed and regulated. Of particular seasonal note, the album includes "East(ern) Village Hanuka," a Turkish-flavored reworking of the holiday classic, "Oh Hanukah!"
- Seth Rogovoy at berkshireweb.com (author, THE ESSENTIAL KLEZMER)

"If there is such a thing as mainstream klezmer, these... typify the sub-genre splendidly... a good job of choosing a mix of traditional bulgars and the like, and also digs deep for overlooked poetry that can be set to music. A sterling example is 'Unter di Khurves fun Poyln' [Under the Ruins of Poland], a poem by Itsik Manger, lamenting the loss of a girlfriend during the Holocaust. Mostly, though, these songs are uplifting, a happy collection of tunes meant to convey the broader range of emotions to which klezmer has always provided a soundtrack"
- Ed Silverman, Dirty Linen Folk & World Music MagazineIssue #91, December 2000-January 2001

"It sure didn't take long for these guys to emerge as one of the best traditional klezmer bands around. Their first CD served notice that they were a force to be reckoned with and there sure wasn't a sophomore jinx. A tighter, more unified sound than ever, with leader Eve Sicular booting things along from her drum kit. A band that can handle any tempo and a wide range of moods with equal mastery. 5 stars."
- George Robinson, Top 10 CD's List, JEWISH WEEK(NYC), 10/13/2000

"unscheinbare aber sehr gute Gruppe - eine meiner Favoriten!"

"The CD is extraordinary.
In every regard.
In terms of craft, no wish is left unfulfilled. The musicians play with effortless precision. Throughout, even with the familiar traditional pieces, the tracks are arranged and played with lots of emotional richness, a wealth of ideas, and passion.

One of my favorite pieces, "Uskudar Taxim/Terk in Amerika," is especially well realized. It contains the essence of the old recordings; one feels touched by nostalgia. On the other hand, one will also be grabbed by the interesting new interpretation. A wonderfully beautiful accordion solo. Similar things hold true for the remaining pieces: they bubble with stimulation and are truly the good old favorite songs.

In brief, simply one of the most outstanding recordings of Jewish music. A personal note: a couple of days ago, I had a discussion with a musician about what I expect from the liner notes of a klezmer CD, and how they should not look. Those of Mosaic Persuasion are short and informative, a model example. No blather, just pertinent info on all the pieces, and song texts in Yiddish, English, and transliteration."
- Stefan (Gus) Bauer, Virtual Klezmer [www.klezmer.de, Germany]
Full English translation!

"The title "Mosaic Persuasion" is a very apt "double entendre", "mosaic" here being intended both in the meaning of referring to the laws of Moses (in other words, 'Mosaic means never having to say you're Jewish') and in that of a multi-faceted image, where a large number of individual elements combine to form a larger image. This metaphor could hardly be more appropriate to describe the eclectic music of Metropolitan Klezmer... A strong, thoroughly consistent album. The arrangements are flawless and even elegant, the musicianship and virtuosity impeccable. Throw in superb ensemble playing and a great deal of exuberance and flair, as well as a truly cosmopolitan instrumental palette with excellent "doubling" by all members, and you've got an outstandingly versatile band. The presence of members of The Isle of Klezbos complements Metropolitan Klezmer seamlessly, and their contributions certainly make one wish to hear more of this all female band."
- Renaissance Man, Rainlore
Full article

"MK's debut CD, 'Yiddish For Travelers,' was highly acclaimed for its electrifying renditions of classic Yiddish tunes. Their follow-up disc 'Mosaic Persuasion' features more of the same: lively and energetic dance music from Eastern Europe spills out of this CD with rollicking joy. The Isle of Klezbos, an all-woman Klezmer band, is also featured."
- Hear's Music e-zine

"an urban, sophisticated sound, with crisp solos and exquisite ensemble playing.... the musicality is true, and the American-bred enthusiasm is unmistakable."
- Gigi Yellen-Kohn, Jewish Transcript (Seattle)

[Best of 2000 recordings list] "The band, smoking, jazzy, under incredibly tight, precise control, sets off with a couple of dance done not too fast, not too slow, but so right that our feet begin moving around the room. 'Brandwein in the Lotus Groove' melds some perfect jazz rhythm with classic Brandwein ... vocalist Deborah Karpel demonstrates ... an excellent reading of Itzik Manger's 'Unter di Khurves fun Poyln' (Under the ruins of Poland), and the rest of the band, are impeccable. And that's the tone for the album: pounding traditional klezmer, or even rollicking untraditional klezmer as on the 'Humphrey Bulgar, perfectly set Yiddish Broadway (well, New York Second Avenue), and the occasional Balkan digression, as on Butera's arrangement of 'Uskudar Taxim' merging into another Brandwein tune, 'Terk in Amerike' and reminding us of the Brandwein tune's roots.. ."The thing is, while this band plays jazz quite well, they also manage to strike a far eastern, very traditional tune on numbers such as the concluding 'Szol a Kakas Mar' and 'Araber Tants'. With Metropolitan Klezmer, one gets to have one's cake -- modern, bouncy, jazzy music -- and eat it too -- to dance to traditional, impeccably timed and performed instrumental klezmer music. It is worth noting that this recording, like many performances, also features bandleader Sicular's all-woman ensemble, Isle of Klezbos. The resulting super-ensemble is proof that two great bands can add up to even more. It also provides an excuse to present goodies such as Pam Fleming's thoughtfully danceful, Epstein-Brothers hinted 'Rifka's Dream'."
- Ari Davidow, KlezmerShack [year-end 2000]

In de marge van de activiteiten van John Zorn, de bescheiden, maar invloedrijke New Yorkse saxofonist, componist, arrangeur en zoveel meer, zijn een heleboel projecten als paddestoelen uit de grond gerezen. De joodse klezmer speelt daarin een voorname rol. Denk aan de experimentele soloplaten en de cd's van Masada.

Terwijl de meester constant nieuwe horizonten verkent, zijn een aantal muzikanten aan de slag gegaan in Metropolitan Klezmer, een formatie die all-things-yiddish brengt in een eindeloze variëteit. In '94 hield drumster Eve Sicular (lid van een muzikale familie-van-stand) MK boven de doopvont. Yiddish For Travellers volgde weldra. In '98 was er al een zusterformatie: niets dan dames in Isle of Klezbos (naam spreekt boekdelen). Voor de tweede outing, Mosaic Persuasion, kwamen ze alweer samen. Onbegonnen werk te vertellen met wie deze bedreven muzikanten allemaal samenwerkten, maar het lijstje is indrukwekkend. Het laat zich raden: de in hoofdzaak traditionele composities worden vaardig, met stielkennis en liefde gebracht. Daar kan je geen speld tussen krijgen: accordeon, viool, klarinet, trompet en zang (een knappe Deborah Karpel!) eisen om beurten de hoofdrol.

Het speelplezier druipt van deze plaat die net als Bente Kahans Jewish Songs weinig nieuws brengt, maar als overzicht van dit segment van de Yiddishe muziek wérkt.
- Marc Dolan, RootsTown Folk & Roots Music Magazine (Belgium), 2001

"Metropolitan Klezmer, one of my favorite traditional ensembles, is about to release a new CD, MOSAIC PERSUASION. Those who remember the debut album, YIDDISH FOR TRAVELERS, or who have seen this excellent combo live (or both!) will be most excited... If you liked the band's first album... (I liked it a lot!), you'll find the new album deeper, better, and even more fun. Notable are a very swinging 'Abi Gezunt;' a very cool fusion of Eastern Europe and American Jazz in the 'East[ern] Village Hanuka.' Therer's also a version of 'Lomir zikh iberbetn' (Let's make up)... Wish I was in the Village right now listening for this band that is still, clearly, worth driving the four hours down from Boston for. At least that's what the first listen sounds like. There will be many more."
- Ari Davidow, KlezmerShack, June 2000

Reviews of YIDDISH FOR TRAVELERS (1998)
& select late 20th-century press coverage

Top Ten lists:
Seth Rogovoy (MOMENT Magazine), 1999
Ari Davidow's KlezmerShack, 1998
WRUW-FM WorldBeat, 1999

The music covered by Metropolitan Klezmer on Yiddish for Travelers is of an impressive breadth. The at-times eight-person-strong ensemble consists of topnotch music professionals with a wide array of specializations: ranging from the Balkan, Middle Eastern and Eastern European music to Afro-Caribbean, jazz, ska, R&B and Cajun. Apart from Metropolitan Klezmer, they have been involved in many other artistic projects.

But the common denominator on this album is the klezmer musical tradition that has evolved over centuries among Jewish communities throughout the Old World, before crossing over to the other side of the Atlantic -- sadly often under far from felicitous circumstances, to say the least.

To give the listeners a comprehensive impression, Yiddish for Travelers carries them on a 24-track grand tour of the genre: from Jewish weddings via Warsaw film studios on to Greece, the Jewish quarter of Istanbul, into the Bulgarian countryside and on theatre stages of Rumania, visiting forgotten regions like Bessarabia and traveling into time with Sephardic music, betraying the influences of Arabic and Persian poetry.

The producers have even thrown in a travelers' companion to the Yiddish language: the typical Patois spoken among the Jews of central and eastern Europe. [Namely,] the CD flyer...

Yiddish for Travelers offers an entertaining musical journey through a unique and truly global musical tradition that deserves every effort to be preserved.
- Carool Kersten, Rambles: a cultural arts magazine, 27 December 2003
for full article Click here

"Subtle but ear-catching arrangements. Strands of Greek fire, substance and rhythm are blended with overlays of drum and Druze dance, and tone colours that show a Turkish leaning here reawaken themes that over-exposure by others elsewhere had jaded. Pleasantly inventive."[recommended]
- Folk Roots Magazine (UK)No. 203, May 2000

This versatile sextet from the Big Apple is comfortable with styles ranging from Middle Eastern-drenched dance music to Yiddish theater music to the classic klezmer of Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein -- but its lounge-jazz version of the Yiddish classic 'Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen' (Raisins and Almonds) takes the cake. Extra points for the female drummer...

Distinguished by just plain great, versatile ensemble playing on the two dozen selections offering a broad sweep of mostly pre-World War II klezmer and Yiddish music. With a wide range of instrumentation from which to draw... the mix repertory staples... with lesser-known and overlooked tunes from Yiddish film soundtracks and immigrant-era klezmer bands... exuberant, classic-style arrangements, but occasionally they tweak things: "Shyen vi di Levone" has a jazzy, rhythmic shuffle bordering on Western swing, the typically parade-like "Oy Tate" is turned into a snakey bit of Middle Eastern music... great spirit and wit.
- Seth Rogovoy, Top 10 Klezmer CDs, Moment Magazine (August 1999) and THE ESSENTIAL KLEZMER, [Algonquin Books], 2000

Metropolitan Klezmer Mixes it Up
There is power in diaspora, says Eve Sicular, founding drummer of Metropolitan Klezmer, one of Gotham's most in-demand klezmer bands.

"We believe that the Jewish identity is something that's always under construction," Sicular says. That's why Metropolitan Klezmer... is as eclectic as it can be.

....Metropolitan Klezmer takes the music of its ancestors and combines it with American dance, trance, folk and swing [on] its high-energy debut CD, "Yiddish for Travelers."
- Robert Makin, The [New Jersey] Courier News, April 8, 1999

"On Yiddish For Travelers, Metropolitan Klezmer demonstrates virtuosity aplenty on music drawn from deep Eastern European and Middle Eastern roots and from the Yiddish theatre of the Jewish Diaspora. If this is a part of your heritage, you'll know some of it and appreciate all of it. If you're just being introduced to klezmer, this is a fine place to start."
- Shaun Dale, Cosmic Debris
http://www.cosmik.com/aa-january99/reviews/review_metropolitan_klezmer.html

"Wildly variegated flavors...Clever, spirited and smart musicianship...a formidable debut."
- Geo Robinson , Jewish Week

Yiddish for Travelers by Metropolitan Klezmer is a briefcase full of bulgars. Steering clear of klezmer's darker side, this upbeat, on-the-go collection by the New York-based ensemble is as peppy as a round trip on a carousel with occasional slower songs that generously allow the listener space to catch one's breath. Portability is the key in making this an exceptionally well-played, nicely arranged representation of the genre perfect for popping in a time capsule, intergalactic probe or overnight bag. A stand-out among the tried-and-tested strategy of serving up standards is "Mangiko/Yoshke Fort Avek" which tackles the same tune from two continents, beginning with a throbbing Greek Rebetic version that shifts to the more familiar Eastern European style, both performed on kanun zither, accordion, bass and hand drums. Most cuts opt for bigger arrangements with boucy brass and reeds, plus a haunting flugelhorn lead by Pam Fleming on the angst-laden �Libes Shmertsn� (The Pain of Love) or the full circus wagon of horns on the showtune "Yosl, Yosl."
- Bob Tarte, The Beat magazine, Vol. 17, Number 4, 1998

"An encompassing survey of selections from Klezmer's origins and crossroads....Eve Sicular's rolling drumbeats and Steve Elson's piercing clarinet melodies lead the orchestra from quietly affecting passages to unexpected bursts of wildly-excited flurries. 'Mangiko/Yoshke fort avek'... hauntingly played on the kanun....'Oy Tate,' a khosidl hypnotically cast via the bendir (hand drum) and ney flute. Metropolitan's klezmer mastery, well-researched selections, and enlightening liner notes translate to one thing: recommended."
- Dirty Linen Folk & World Music Magazine Issue #76 - June/July 1998

"Easily one of the most significant klezmer discs in some time"
- CMJ New Music Report

Yiddish for Travelers (Metropolitan Klezmer): The six-piece New York outfit take a very particular attitude to their music � reflecting the sound of the New York klezmer scene between the wars with great accuracy. At the same time, MK achieve the fine balance of a traditional and contemporary feel within their music which keeps them totally relevant to the music scene of today. Both Metropolitan Klezmer and off-shoot sister band, Isle of Klezbos, contain a bunch of highly talented and original players whose musical roots can be traced back through the Jewish diaspora, across central and eastern Europe, taking in local influences wherever people settled. The 24 tracks on this recording run the gamut of the klezmer tradition, from heart-rending melancholia to heart-bursting rumbustiousness, which make for a riveting and enrapturing debut. Personal favourites include an excursion to Romania in the 'Mainly Rumanian' quartet of tunes which swing from the funereal crawl of 'Ismail's Doyna' through to the mad breakneck pace of 'Volokh' with consummate ease.
- The Phat Planet (U.K.) World Music website the whole of one of the more uptempo numbers in this collection, called 'Yosl, Yosl' (Joey, Joey) is found at http://thephatplanet.com/music.ihtml?pid=7476&step=4

These folks offer a spirited but respectful look at the klezmer tradition as it traveled across Asia Minor, Eastern Europe, and into the Americas (and back). Opening with a medley of a classic hora and a lively show tune by one of the fathers of American klezmer, Dave Tarras, the band shows energy and topnotch playing skills, and an openness to new ideas that never mows over the feel of the original. The mix of instruments is completely modern. Metropolitan Klezmer mix old and new Middle Eastern instruments like bendir and European transplants violin and clarinet with the more modern tools of accordion, upright bass, and drum kit to create a blurred line between ancient and contemporary. They combine and contrast tunes, playing the same song in the style of two or more different places, to give the listener an idea of how the music has traveled. Which is not to imply this is a scholarly performance. Metropolitan Klezmer play with verve and offer great music on this journey.
- Louis Gibson Editorial review, Amazon.com

Authentic Klezmer Music to Dance to: If there is a line usually drawn between the scholarly type of klezmer which features older melodies and traditional instrumentation and the leading edge klezmer played by groups who see it as a starting point for blending into other genres, Metropolitan Klezmer is one of the few groups that can stand in the middle of the divide and quietly dominate that space. Yiddish for Travelers is a witty, tightly performed collection of klezmer pieces that doesn't pretend to be anything but klezmer. Conversely, Metropolitan Klezmer's mastery of the genre is not a historical period piece to be placed in Smithsonian archives; it is animated dance music that defies feet to be still. The only thing better than hearing the CD is hearing the band live. Get your dancing shoes ON!
- Elissa Sampson, Amazon.com

Some people, me for example, think of klezmer as great party music, even though they've never been to a Jewish party! I always think of partying when I hear klezmer, even if I am deep in the Cascadian forest and the other partygoers are pine trees!

The Metropolitan Klezmer is from the huge metropolis of New York City, far from these Pacific mountains. Formed in 1994, they released their first album, Yiddish For Travelers in 1997, and their second, Mosaic Persuasion in 2001. The women in MK do double time in an all-girl band called Isle Of Klezbos, which has other members as well. Both groups have similar instruments and arrangements and include some non-Jewish musicians. Most have played several other styles of music, ranging from Cajun to Greek to jazz. As in many bands, these influences have led to a cosmopolitan sound, integrated at the roots, so that the music sounds like vivid, solid klezmer instead of fusion. And they don't sound cheesy either -- something people out here worry about!

What an ethnic party headbanger! There is not a track on Yiddish For Travelers that drags; the slower tracks move a long like a diesel ferry through the dark waters of night. MK, with its often perky brass and drums and more subtle clarinet, violin, and accordion, visits a number of locales. Most are similarly rich, eastern, and captured with energy and soul, but a few break the pace. "Mangiko/Yoske Fort Avek" sounds Greek to me, because the first part is the Greek original played by Michael Hess on kanun (Middle Eastern) zither; the second part is the Yiddish derivative. Speaking of trips to other places, "Russian Sher" and a string of Romanian tracks seem not really so unlike each other in style, and point towards a homeland based on culture and religion rather than geography. But those geographic differences do exist in the tunes.

Yiddish For Travelers also includes a few show and movie tunes, not uncommon for klezmerites. Deborah Karpel sings two of these, in a sweet but piercing low soprano. "Farlangen/Longing" is from a 1937 Polish movie. "A young woman sits in an alcove with her face against the wall." The jazzy "Sheyn Vi Di Levone/Beautiful As the Moon" is from the Yiddish theatre.
- Judith Gennett The Green Man Review (KPSU Radio)
http://www.greenmanreview.com/cd/cd_klez_twofer.html

"A very interesting, unusual and wide-ranging klezmer band with all sorts of different looks ... different dimensions."
- Rob Weisberg, TransPacific Sound Paradise,
WFMU-FM (Jersey City NJ / NYC), June 18, 1999

"It's a great band!"
- John Zorn (1998 letter to Metropolitan Klezmer)

"This group spans a range of ages and genders, and includes a repertoire that squeezes 1,000 years of Jewish history in song -- from Asia Minor, the synagogue, Swing Era dance halls and '30s Jewish film music. When you hear the songs with vocalist Deborah Karpel, you'll realize how much Jewish music influenced the torch-song tradition and The Great American Songbook.

"The orchestra's bassist, Dave Hofstra, has a veritable who's who resume: the Waitresses, blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff, Luka Bloom and 'Downtowners' John Zorn and Elliot Sharp. Eve Sicular, the orchestra's drummer & leader, has played Cajun and zydeco, rhythm and blues and rock. She has also led an all-female klezmer band, The Isle of Klezbos. With the incredible variety of songs and styles, and the infectious joy that infuses their performances, you won't need to go to Vegas this season for a show."
- Mark Keresman, The (NYC) Resident, December 1998

"Yiddish music has developed a multi-ethnic heritage along its route of development. Metropolitan Klez mer embraces these varied aspects by exploring the roots of wedding music, folk rituals, prayers, lullabies and thejoyous celebration of Yiddish history."
- Hear's Music, Tucson AZ

"Great klez [sextet] that have truly studied the depths of klezmer from many areas & eras. Each of these 24 cuts is an historic gem of klezmer's rich heritage. With Steve Elson (Big Joe) & Dave Hofstra (Microscopics...) A 1000 year history in 60 minutes!"
- Downtown Music Gallery

"The [NY] neighborhood band for whose concerts I am even willing to drive down from Boston...Yiddish for Travelers is a beautifully-produced, exquisitely packaged CD.... The music is excellent... A lovely revitalization of what we now consider the 'classic' American klezmer repertoire (with touches of Balkan and Greek as well)."
- Ari Davidow's Klezmer Shack

"Lovely and it helped me to make a point about music shared around the world. Thanks."
- Judy Rose, Wisconsin Public Radio

"Some more from Yiddish for Travelers just because it's such a fun album."
- Frank Gosar, KLCC-FM Eugene, OR

"Very effective use of the accordion and kanun especially. Thoroughly enjoyable -- this is the way I like my klezmer!"
- Wendy Morrison, Klezmos/House of Musical Heritage

"Usually klezmer gets too humorous for my taste but Yiddish For Travelers is a surprisingly enjoyable album."
- D. Holland, US Army

"The CD is wonderful, & I have been using it for the local (read: Northern Italy) radio show...Thank you very much."
- Francesco Spagnolo, Yuval Italia Centro di Studia sulla Musica Ebraica Italian Center for Study of Jewish Music

Die Aufnahmen sind vorwiegend ausgezeichnet und im klassisch traditionellen Stil arrangiert mit nur wenigen experimentellen, leicht jazzig angehauchten Ansätzen. Die Interpretation ist überwiegend zeitlos. Mit diesem Debutalbum hat sich die New Yorker Formation auf einen Schlag einen sicheren Platz in der Klezmer-Szene erspielt. Ich würde sie, obwohl sie erst ein paar Jahre alt ist, zu den Klassikern zählen.
Eine CD, die ich immer wieder gerne auflege und ein überzeugendes Beispiel zeitgemäßer traditioneller jüdischer Musik.
- Stefan ("Gus") Bauer, Virtual Klezmer (www.klezmer.de) German-language site

"... Traditional klezmer tunes, Chassidic nigunim and khosidls, Yiddish song, Balkan and Greek and Sephardic elements, as well as jazz. The traditional is blended very carefully and effectively with the contemporary, the old with the new. The arrangements on "Yiddish For Travelers", credited variously to individual band members or several, or the band itself, are outstanding, even elegant, and in spite of their varying authorship remarkably cohesive. ... versatile band ... very wide-ranging musical backgrounds of the members, which span Cajun and zydeco to jazz and classical, including opera. The musicianship is impeccable, technical mastery is taken for granted, and everybody is evidently very well attuned to one another as an ensemble. The band not only take great pride in what they do and doing it with excellence, but also do so with great exuberance and flair.

... an incredibly tight album ... consistently excellent throughout and forming a nicely cohesive whole. This is music with heart, soul and ear, for heart, soul and ear, and for the feet as well. While there isn't a single weak track, certain highlights bear pointing out. "Mangiko/Yoshke Fort Avek" combines two versions of the same tune, shared by two different traditions. First, a rendition in the Greek Rebetica style, then in the Ashkenazic style of Eastern Europe."
- Renaissance Man, Rainlore
Full article

Anatomy of a Band World Beat - Metropolitan Klezmer span the globe for musical inspiration
How did an eclectic set of cajun, rockabilly and classical performers synthesize to form Metropolitan Klezmer? What could possibly bring together as variegated a bunch of musicians as this, musicians who have worked in everything from rockabilly to avant-garde jazz, from Greek rembetiko to rhythm and blues? Actually it was more of a who that a what. Eve Sicular is the band's leader, organizer, scheduler and anything else it takes to get everybody to a gig. She's also the drummer.

Metropolitan Klezmer had thier beginnings in a gig in 1990. Sicular, now an elfin, bespectacled 36-year-old, as asked to put a group together. She... knew two guys who "had been playing a lot of Jewish music, but their musical roots were as varied as the roots of klezmer itself." Michael Hess started out as a classical violinist and violist, but along the way he picked up a few other arrows for his musical quiver � the kanun, a Middle Eastern zither, Arabic ney flutes, frame drums. Ismail Butera is an accordion player equally comfortable with Greek, Albanian, Arabic, Turkish and Persian music as he is with klezmer, Sephardic and Israelis. Sicluar says of the duo, "They are among the only musicians in klezmer who instead of talking about the freygish mode will say, 'Oh yeah, that's in hijaz.'"

Next, Sicular contacted Dave Hofstra. "I wanted a bass player, I'd just seen Dave and it was a naural." A natural for just about anything musiual you could name: Hofstra's resume includes jazz gigs with Philip Johnston's bands Big Trouble, the Microscopic Septet and the Transparent Quartet, appearances with the Klezmatics, John Zorn , Toshi Reagon, Luka Bloom, Tom Cora and Guy Klucevsek...

Factor in Sicular's own background, which includes zydeco, rock and rhythms and glules (and an academic background in Yiddish film!) and you already have a band as musically multilingual as any imaginable. Of course, all that was missing was a vocalist trained to sing opera and art song. Fortunately, Deborah Karpel, the band's vocalist, has klezmer bloodlines to balance out her classical training � she learned her first Yiddish songs from her grandfather. "Debby is known for so many kinds of music, but she wanted to do this for her family," Sicular says...

The band played its first gig at one of John Zorn's festivals at the Knitting Factory in March 1994... The initial offering, "Yiddish For Travelers," reflects some of the wildly variegated flavors in the Metro mix. A Greek rembetiko tune transmutes into the Yiddish "Yoshke Fort Avek," the evergreen lullaby "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen" segues into a swing tune called "Metropolitan Raisins" ... Two haunting numbers are drawn from the 1937 film of "The Dybbuk." If all this sounds like the World-Beat band of your nightmares, don't worry. It's not. "Yiddish for Travelers" works nicely on its own terms and as a New Klezmer recording.

And Sicular promises that it's only the beginning...
- George Robinson, Jewish Week (NYC), The Arts feature, 12/26/97