The term klezmer comes from a combination of Hebrew words: kli, meaning " a useful or prepared instrument, tool, or utensil " and zemer, meaning " to make music "; leading to k ' li zemer כ ְּ ל ִ י ז ֶ מ ֶ ר, literally " vessels of song " = " musical instrument ".

Originally, klezmer referred to musical instruments, and was later extended to refer, as a pejorative, to musicians themselves.

The Romanian influence is, perhaps, the strongest and most enduring of the musical styles that influenced traditional klezmer musicians.

Klezmorim were respected for their musical abilities and diverse repertoire, but they were by no means restricted to playing klezmer.

This musical form combines the sonorities, instrumentation and rhythms of rock music with melodies which are in a klezmer style, and words taken mostly from religious texts.

The musical style draws on a number of musical genres, including pop, jazz, and classical, klezmer, Latin, Rock, and Folk.

He's also produced other klezmer musical acts in the past such as Finjan, The Klezmatics and Chava Alberstein.

Unlike peasant doinas, lăutar and klezmer doinas are usually accompanied and played on instruments with more musical possibilities ( violin, pan-pipe, cymbalom, accordion, clarinet, tarogato, etc .).

Atzmon's musical method has been to play with notions of cultural identity, flirting with genres such as tango and klezmer as well as various Arabic, Balkan, Gypsy and Ladino folk forms.

Brustein also conceived and adapted the musical Shlemiel the First, based on the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer and set to traditional klezmer music, which was directed and choreographed by David Gordon.

Many small music industries are built around a core fanbase who may be based largely in one region, such as Tejano or Hawaiian music, or they may be widely dispersed, such as the audience for Jewish klezmer.

Songs based in the Russian or klezmer traditions normally use the harmonic minor ( that is, with an elevated seventh ), while songs in the New Hebrew style use natural minor, often with a diminished second leading to the tonic.

The Brazilian guitarist Sergio Assad has also experimented with folk-derived, complex virtuoso compositions that show Piazzolla's structural influence while steering clear of tango sounds ; and Osvaldo Golijov has acknowledged Piazzolla as perhaps the greatest influence on his globally oriented, eclectic compositions for classical and klezmer performers.

They had a great influence on each other musically and linguistically ( the extensive klezmer argot in Yiddish includes some Roma borrowings ).

The West German klezmer scene, on the other hand, got started soon after the student revolutions of the late 1960s.

* Klezmer Concertos and Encores composition Rocketekya on recording of klezmer music ( Naxos B0000C508L )

This work contained characteristics which would become typical of Shostakovich's Jewish idiom — the Phrygian mode with an augmented third and the Dorian mode with an augmented fourth ; the iambic prime ( a series of two notes on the same pitch in an iambic rhythm, with the first note of each phrase on an upbeat ); and the standard accompaniments to Jewish klezmer music.

They have recorded five CDs, which are distributed internationally and have received two Juno nominations, and are still the only klezmer band to have created a music video, which received much airplay on MuchMusic.

Guest vocalists on the song included the unlikely pairing of Kemo the Blaxican ( of Latin hip-hop legends Delinquent Habits ) and Loren Sklamberg of Grammy-winning klezmer band The Klezmatics.

In keeping with the cabaret tradition, Wolownik did not limit himself strictly to Russian music, but also arranged Romanian, Hungarian, Moldavian, Gypsy, and klezmer tunes, some of which had never been played on anything other than the native instruments for which they were composed.

Jewish Music from Old World to Our World " ( ISBN 0-02-864574-X ), the first book on the history of klezmer music, was the winner of the 2000 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Scholarship.

Original printings included a 7 " record, with the Bing Crosby recording on the A side, and a recording by a local klezmer band, dubbed " The Bearcats ", on the B side.

In 1988, the band featured in a documentary on klezmer called A Jumpin Night in the Garden of Eden.

Lewis criticized his 2006 comedy klezmer project, Artie Fishel and the Promised Band, as " a clumsy satire on what he regards as the artificial nature of Jewish identity politics.

Chris Nickson, writing on CD Universe, praises Tummel's lively performance: " A Danish / Swedish band with no deep Jewish roots playing klezmer?

Founded in 1985 by ethnomusicologist and award winning record and radio producer Henry Sapoznik, the program was designed to create an innovative and intensive environment where senior practitioners of the Yiddish folk arts — klezmer music, Yiddish song, Yiddish language, literature and poetry, the culinary and visual arts — pass on their life skills to newer generations.

The famous klezmer clarinetist Naftule Brandwein played for a time in Schwartz's ensemble, notably on popular songs like Brandwein's own " Firn Di Mekhutonim Aheym " ( Leading the In-Laws Home ).

Soon, the United States became the international center for klezmer music, and it became a major influence on jazz and other genres.

The first klezmer known by name was Yakobius ben Yakobius, a player of the aulos in Samaria in the 2nd century CE.

Initially, not much of the klezmer tradition was maintained by U. S. Jews ; there were only a few Yiddish folk singers.

As U. S. Jews began to adopt mainstream culture, the popularity of klezmer slowly waned, and Jewish celebrations were increasingly accompanied by non-Jewish music.

Many believe Gershwin was influenced by the Yiddish of his youth, and that the opening of " Rhapsody in Blue " was a nod to klezmer clarinetting.

In the late 1970s there was a klezmer revival in the United States and Europe, led by Giora Feidman, Zev Feldman, Andy Statman, The Klezmorim, and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.

Musicians began to track down older European klezmer, by listening to recordings, finding transcriptions, and making field recordings of the few klezmorim left in Eastern Europe.

In the 1990s, musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area also helped revive interest in klezmer music by taking it into new territory.

Interest in klezmer was sustained and supported by well-known avant-garde jazz musicians like John Zorn and Don Byron, who sometimes blend klezmer with jazz.

Much of the traditional klezmer repertoire was written by professional klezmer musicians in the style of their region or tradition, and a lot of co-territorial music such as non-Jewish folksongs, especially Romanian music ( mainly from Moldavia ), as well as Ukrainian music and Ottoman music, and the musics of other minorities living in the same areas as Jews in Southeastern Europe such as Crimean Tatars.

In the 21st century, klezmer is typically learned from " fake books " and transcriptions of old recordings, although the music was traditionally transmitted and learned by ear.

These are by far the most popular klezmer dances.

Modern klezmer instrumentation is more commonly influenced by the instruments of the 19th century military bands than the earlier orchestras. The orchestration employed by Joel Rubin — one of the most experienced and knowledgeable contemporary klezmer musicians — represents a historically justified link with that of contemporary ethnic music ensembles of Romania and Hungary.

Other klezmer bands look back to different eras or regions, and attempt to recreate specific styles of klezmer — for example, Budowitz, the Chicago Klezmer Band, Veretski Pass, and the album " Maramoros: the Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania " by the Hungarian band Muzsikas.

Musicians from New York have also dominated the Jewish-American klezmer scene, the Greenwich Village old-time music revival, and the straight 1960s pop music exemplified by the Brill Building sound.

He was raised " surrounded by chamber classical music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Ástor Piazzolla ," according to his official website.

These rhythmic combinations and arrangements were described by Simon Reynolds as being reminiscent of klezmer music, fairground-like melodies and oom-pah offbeat notes.

Russell wrote 9 extended pieces after 1984, among them: Timeline for symphonic orchestra, jazz orchestra, chorus, klezmer band and soloists, composed for the New England Conservatory's 125th anniversary ; a re-orchestration of Living Time for Russell's orchestra and additional musicians, commissioned by the Cité de la Musique in Paris in 1994 ; and It's About Time, co-commissioned by The Arts Council of England and the Swedish Concert Bureau in 1995.