klezmer

Track 1 from my album, "Echoes of the Shtetl". This album is my attempt to recreate the wonderful sounds of the traditional Jewish Klezmer fiddle, which once wafted through the many Shtetls of Eastern Europe, prior to the ravages wrought on Eastern European Jewish musical culture by the Holocaust.

The first couple of tracks on this album are particularly poignant.  "Khosid Dance" (track 1) & "Dance From Maramaros" (track 2) - these melodies uniquely demonstrate the fusion of Jewish and Romanian-style Gypsy Music which existed in Hungary, prior to the totally pointless, barbaric destruction of both these communities and their centuries of fabulously rich and diverse musical culture, during the sheer horror of the Holocaust. I first learnt them by ear from a fantastic recording called "The Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania" (Hannibal 1973).

This recording uniquely features Hungarian Jewish Klezmer melodies, thankfully remembered by a handful of surviving Hungarian Gypsy musicians, who played these very melodies with Jewish musicians, and also at Jewish Weddings in Hungary before World War II - thus preserving a precious remnant of the amazing Hungarian Jewish/Gypsy culture which once so wonderfully merged & thrived together for literally centuries...

In my own personal arrangement of "Khosid Dance", I have attempted to covey this fusion of Romanian Gypsy and Jewish Klezmer fiddle styles, by beginning and closing the piece passages in the style of a typical, mournful Romanian "Doina" - a free improvisatory style of fiddle playing, which the Klezmer musicians seem to have directly adopted and adapted from the Romanian-style Gypsy music they heard. In certain parts of "Khosid Dance", hints of the familiar Jewish Klezmer "Ahava Raba" mode can be heard (AA#C#DEFGA), but the Gypsy/Romanian influence can clearly be felt in both the phrasing and general "mood" of the music. The fiddle playing heard in these precious few surviving Hungarian Klezmer melodies (as performed on the Muzikas recording) has a much "fuller" fiddle style/sound, than the much more ornamented, sinuous, almost "vibrato-free" fiddle styles of Jewish Eastern European Klezmer .

Another fascinating recording I can recommend is called "Like a Different World", by the late Leon Schwartz. In this unique recording, can be heard a Jewish fiddle player who was born in Poland in 1902, and was actually taught to play fiddle by the local Gypsy musicians who lived near his village - a fantastically beautiful fusion of styles.

 In my intention to covey the terrible loss of the Hungarian Jewish & Gypsy cultures which once so harmoniously blossomed together in Hungary for centuries, until their almost total destruction in the holocaust, my arrangement of the melody is much slower and mournful than the dance-style rendition heard in the performance of this piece by Muzsikas.
I also attempt to emphasis this sadness by means of the fiddle technique often heard in traditional Jewish Klezmer music, which is known as a "cretche" - literally attempting to create a "sobbing" effect on the fiddle, by means of lightly stopping the strings at the end of playing certain notes in the melody...which has the effect of "cutting short the breath" of these notes, just like the sound of someone sobbing.

This fascinating cultural exchange of musical ideas is certainly not unique to Jewish Klezmer music - it seems to have happened throughout all of History, whenever two entirely different cultures find themselves living side by side, for example, Cajun music - an absolutely incredible fusion, of quaint French Dance Music...and Louisiana Blues!

Above all the musical styles which influenced the traditional Klezmer musicians of Eastern Europe, the Romanian influence seems to be the strongest and most enduring. This fact is reflected in the dance forms found throughout the entire surviving Klezmer music repertoire, e.g. Horas, Doinas, and Bulgars etc. I have also featured examples of such piece on the album, for example   & "Oriental Hora" (track 5) & "Oriental Hora" (track 6). This influence on the old Jewish Klezmer music of Eastern Europe may again be due to the sounds of Romanian Gypsy music heard on the fringes of Eastern European society, near to the old Jewish Shtetls, which the Klezmer musicians heard, adopted and adapted.

It is so often overlooked, that the fact that any Klezmer music has survived today, is mostly thanks to the emigration to America of Jewish musicians from Eastern Europe, prior to the advent of World War II. Some of these musicians recorded the traditional Klezmer melodies they took with them, (their  “invisible baggage”), mostly during the 1920s. It was thanks to these crackly vintage recordings, that the revival of Klezmer music, starting in the 1970s, was made possible. "Oriental Hora" (track 5) is an example of one of these traditional Klezmer melodies which survived, thanks to an early recording of it in the USA, made by the Klezmer violinist, Max Liebowitz.

The rather rustic "rough edges" in my fiddle playing, (which the classically trained violinist will no doubt detect), is simply a consequence of the fact that I am totally, entirely self-taught - just like most of the Eastern European Jewish Klezmer musicians of old, I never had either the money or the opportunity to take violin lessons. In my own opinion, folk music played by a classically trained violinist, simply no longer sounds like authentic folk music.

If music can "Capture the Soul" of a People, then may this recording be my tribute to the Jewish & Gypsy musicians of Eastern Europe who were so brutally & pointlessly butchered by the Nazis during the Holocaust - at least this little selection of Klezmer melodies which some of them once played, will now, forever, live on...

My passion for recreating the sounds of the music of the ancient world originates mainly from my many years as a self-taught Klezmer fiddle player - I became increasingly intrigued by the timeless, ancient musical modes I was so familiar with in Klezmer and it was my desire to "get back to the root of the olive branch", to delve deeper into the actual origin of these haunting, ancient modes, which since discovering the little-kown work of the late Suzanne Haik Vantoura, I discovered that they may indeed turn out to be as ancient as the Hebrew Bible itself.

Indeed, most of the repertoire from my first 2 albums,"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel" & "Lyre of the Levites" was derived from the traditional Klezmer repertoire, uniquely arranged for replica 3000 year old Biblical Lyre. My 2 albums "Echoes of the Shtetl" & "The Klezmer Fiddle" attempt to evoke the sounds of the tragically lost Shtetls of Eastern Europe - the entrancing refrains, of the traditional Jewish Klezmer Fiddle... 

For full details, including a PDF booklet of the album  notes, please see:

http://ancientlyre.com/albums_for_solo_klezmer_fiddle/

Khosid Dance (Rare Surviving Hungarian Klezmer Melody)

Track 2 from my album, "Echoes of the Shtetl". This album is my attempt to recreate the wonderful sounds of the traditional Jewish Klezmer fiddle, which once wafted through the many Shtetls of Eastern Europe, prior to the ravages wrought on Eastern European Jewish musical culture by the Holocaust.

The first couple of tracks on this album are particularly poignant.  "Khosid Dance" (track 1) & "Dance From Maramaros" (track 2) - these melodies uniquely demonstrate the fusion of Jewish and Romanian-style Gypsy Music which existed in Hungary, prior to the totally pointless, barbaric destruction of both these communities and their centuries of fabulously rich and diverse musical culture, during the sheer horror of the Holocaust. I first learnt them by ear from a fantastic recording called "The Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania" (Hannibal 1973).

This recording uniquely features Hungarian Jewish Klezmer melodies, thankfully remembered by a handful of surviving Hungarian Gypsy musicians, who played these very melodies with Jewish musicians, and also at Jewish Weddings in Hungary before World War II - thus preserving a precious remnant of the amazing Hungarian Jewish/Gypsy culture which once so wonderfully merged & thrived together for literally centuries...

In my own personal arrangement of "Khosid Dance", I have attempted to covey this fusion of Romanian Gypsy and Jewish Klezmer fiddle styles, by beginning and closing the piece passages in the style of a typical, mournful Romanian "Doina" - a free improvisatory style of fiddle playing, which the Klezmer musicians seem to have directly adopted and adapted from the Romanian-style Gypsy music they heard. In certain parts of "Khosid Dance", hints of the familiar Jewish Klezmer "Ahava Raba" mode can be heard (AA#C#DEFGA), but the Gypsy/Romanian influence can clearly be felt in both the phrasing and general "mood" of the music. The fiddle playing heard in these precious few surviving Hungarian Klezmer melodies (as performed on the Muzikas recording) has a much "fuller" fiddle style/sound, than the much more ornamented, sinuous, almost "vibrato-free" fiddle styles of Jewish Eastern European Klezmer .

Another fascinating recording I can recommend is called "Like a Different World", by the late Leon Schwartz. In this unique recording, can be heard a Jewish fiddle player who was born in Poland in 1902, and was actually taught to play fiddle by the local Gypsy musicians who lived near his village - a fantastically beautiful fusion of styles.

 In my intention to covey the terrible loss of the Hungarian Jewish & Gypsy cultures which once so harmoniously blossomed together in Hungary for centuries, until their almost total destruction in the holocaust, my arrangement of the melody is much slower and mournful than the dance-style rendition heard in the performance of this piece by Muzsikas.
I also attempt to emphasis this sadness by means of the fiddle technique often heard in traditional Jewish Klezmer music, which is known as a "cretche" - literally attempting to create a "sobbing" effect on the fiddle, by means of lightly stopping the strings at the end of playing certain notes in the melody...which has the effect of "cutting short the breath" of these notes, just like the sound of someone sobbing.

This fascinating cultural exchange of musical ideas is certainly not unique to Jewish Klezmer music - it seems to have happened throughout all of History, whenever two entirely different cultures find themselves living side by side, for example, Cajun music - an absolutely incredible fusion, of quaint French Dance Music...and Louisiana Blues!

Above all the musical styles which influenced the traditional Klezmer musicians of Eastern Europe, the Romanian influence seems to be the strongest and most enduring. This fact is reflected in the dance forms found throughout the entire surviving Klezmer music repertoire, e.g. Horas, Doinas, and Bulgars etc. I have also featured examples of such piece on the album, for example   & "Oriental Hora" (track 5) & "Oriental Hora" (track 6). This influence on the old Jewish Klezmer music of Eastern Europe may again be due to the sounds of Romanian Gypsy music heard on the fringes of Eastern European society, near to the old Jewish Shtetls, which the Klezmer musicians heard, adopted and adapted.

It is so often overlooked, that the fact that any Klezmer music has survived today, is mostly thanks to the emigration to America of Jewish musicians from Eastern Europe, prior to the advent of World War II. Some of these musicians recorded the traditional Klezmer melodies they took with them, (their  “invisible baggage”), mostly during the 1920s. It was thanks to these crackly vintage recordings, that the revival of Klezmer music, starting in the 1970s, was made possible. "Oriental Hora" (track 5) is an example of one of these traditional Klezmer melodies which survived, thanks to an early recording of it in the USA, made by the Klezmer violinist, Max Liebowitz.

The rather rustic "rough edges" in my fiddle playing, (which the classically trained violinist will no doubt detect), is simply a consequence of the fact that I am totally, entirely self-taught - just like most of the Eastern European Jewish Klezmer musicians of old, I never had either the money or the opportunity to take violin lessons. In my own opinion, folk music played by a classically trained violinist, simply no longer sounds like authentic folk music.

If music can "Capture the Soul" of a People, then may this recording be my tribute to the Jewish & Gypsy musicians of Eastern Europe who were so brutally & pointlessly butchered by the Nazis during the Holocaust - at least this little selection of Klezmer melodies which some of them once played, will now, forever, live on...

For full details, including a free PDF booklet of the album notes, please see:

http://www.ancientlyre.com/albums_for_solo_klezmer_fiddle/

Dance From Máramaros (Rare Surviving Hungarian Klezmer Melody)

Riverboat Records: Celebrating 25 years of making music from around the world

For more information, visit: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/TUG1082/

Riverboat Records celebrates it twenty-fifth year in 2014. Since its founding in 1989, the independent label has supported creative new music from far-flung corners of the globe.
This limited edition compendium offers a taste of the excellently eclectic Riverboat sounds from across the years.

Music From The Source includes music from thirty-three bands spanning across two bumper discs. Spotlighted artists include Greek folk duo Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis who kick off proceedings with a track from their album Greekadelia which reached number one in the World Music Charts Europe. Monoswezi’s haunting minimalist sound fuses the music of Mozambique, Norway, Sweden and Zimbabwe together in seamless interplay. Indian slide-guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya expands his otherworldly sound Beyond The Ragasphere on virtuosic yet quirky track ‘Indospaniola’. Jaipur Kawa Brass Band’s bombastic party music presents an infectious exploration of Indian military music spun together with refigured Bollywood classics.  Lesotho-based ‘junk funk’ renegades Sotho Sounds craft their own instruments as heard on ‘Ba Ea Bojoa (Part 1)’.

Lala Njava’s offering is a Malagasy marvel featuring her silvery wandering voice, lush rolling guitars and rippling percussion. Nigerien nomad bluesmen Etran Finatawa contribute their Wodaabe-Tuareg musical melt. Shiyani Ngcobo acoustic guitar picking illuminates his mastery of the wonderful Zulu maskanda dance style. Boris Kovač & La Campanella’s melody ‘Pearl’ aches with their distinctly Balkan nuance. Klezmer troubadours She’Koyokh spoon out their re-imagined Eastern European folk on ‘Esmera Min’. 

Kardemimmit’s song ‘Ahven (Perch)’ is played by the fresh folksy kantele quartet from Finland. Cuban son band Sierra Maestra deliver their personal account of the nation’s infamous enveloping dance style. Koo Nimo’s lilting palm-wine music flies the flag for Ghana and village ensemble Wayo summon the ancient polyrhythms of Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan. Yunnanese ‘Mountain Men’ Shanren close the set with ‘Drinking Song’ from their new album, which has the UK media hailing them as ‘Chinese folk-rockers to watch’ (The Guardian).

Riverboat Records would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank our supporters. Music From The Source is not only a resplendent retrospective but also highlights the breadth of talented artists that have been given an international platform thanks to Riverboat Record’s ongoing work since 1989.


Samba Touré: Alabina (taken from Music From The Source)

Hallel from Zohar's Nigun's 2012 debut album 'The Four Questions'.

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/zoharsnigun
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-four-questions/id566729603
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Questions-Zohars-Nigun/dp/B009FB3XFE

Zohar's Nigun - Hallel

Forshpiel into Happy Nigun

Song from the Yiddish Film of the same name. A young woman who adores her violin disguises herself as a boy so she and her father can seek their fortunes as klezmer musicians. Adventure ensues. This song is from a scene where they are traveling on the back of a hay wagon. They meet a goat and a bird as they go along.

Yidls Fidl

‘If you can make sound tell a story it becomes music, and were Daniel Weltlinger not a musician, he would still be a story-teller…he uses notes the way a supremely elegant writer – say, Austen or Orwell – uses words, so the sounds, rhythms and sentence constructions dovetail with the meaning so perfectly that the reader’s eye dances effortlessly along each line.’
John Shand – Sydney Morning Herald

Born in Sydney, Australia in 1977 and of French-Hungarian family background, the critically acclaimed Berlin-based violinist and composer-producer Daniel Weltlinger has long been renowned worldwide for his distinctive warm sound, virtuosic dexterity and innovative expressive improvisations within the genres of Gypsy-swing, jazz, Yiddish-klezmer and experimental/free-improvised music. He is frequently in demand in a performance or recording capacity, often in collaboration with an array of top musicians and ensembles in a variety of different formats, and is highly sought after for his technical and musical mastery on his main instrument.

Weltlinger grew up as a small child completely enchanted by his maternal grandfather‘s violin playing, and took up the instrument at the age of 5. He intensely studied Classical music, beginning classes at the age of 8 at the Preparatory Department of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music studying under Sam Podjarski, Alice Waten and Janet Davies, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Music in Classical music at the Conservatorium, graduating in 2001. Several years previous to finishing his studies he discovered an affinity for jazz and improvised music as well as the music he had grown up with as a child, and since this time he has performed and recorded in countless major concert halls, theatres, festivals and clubs in a variety of different formations across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, China, Morocco, Turkey, the US and Israel. He continues to collaborate with a wide range of renowned artists and ensembles including the German-Sinti guitarist and composer Lulo Reinhardt, Berlin based German/Yiddish singer-troubadour Karsten Troyke and singer-actress Sharon Brauner, the Berlin based big band Moka Efti Orchestra, Polish-Australian East-European folk-soul-jazz singer Nadya Golski and the Australian multi-ARIA Award-winning Gyp-rock band Monsieur Camembert amongst many others. He runs the independent record label Rectify Records, which produced the album ‘Koblenz’ nominated as amongst one of the best albums of 2015 in Downbeat Magazine, and in addition to leading various combinations under his own name continues to develop and lead two Australian based contemporary music projects ‘Zohar’s Nigun’ and ‘The Asthmatix’ with long-time colleague, pianist/keyboardist Daniel Pliner, which fuse Jewish musical influences within the respective contemporary frameworks of jazz and electronica/hip-hop.

Weltlinger’s unique sound has been regularly featured on radio and television worldwide and featured on the award winning soundtrack composed by Nikko Weidemann and Mario Kamien for the hit TV show  ‘Babylon Berlin‘ directed by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten which premiered in October 2017 on the Sky Television Network. Further film, documentary and theatre soundtrack credentials have included amongst others ‘Love My Way’ (Stephen Rae), ‘The Underpants’ (Alan John), ‘Uncle Chatzkel’ (Guy Gross), ‘Peking To Paris’ (Roger Mason), ‘The Cat That Walked By Himself’ (Peter Winkler) and ‘Meet The Waks Family’ (Neill Duncan). Weltlinger has had endorsements from a number of top international companies and benefited in 2010-2017 from the support of BNP Paribas in Australia and the BNP Paribas Foundation in Paris for the development of a trilogy of recordings – ‘Souvenirs’ (2011), ‘Koblenz’ (2014) and ‘Samoreau‘ (2017) – in which he wrote original music and arrangements inspired by the music of the legendary Belgian born Manouche guitarist-composer Django Reinhardt. His last album ‘Szolnok’ which in music tells the remarkable true story of his grandfather’s violin generated a further sponsorship from BNP Paribas in Central Europe in late 2018, and was released on May 3rd, 2019. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim both in Europe and Australia, and was nominated for the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Weltlinger has had further sponsorships with the Danish microphone manufacturer DPA microphones, US string instrument manufacturer Saga instruments as well as the Scottish acoustic amplification and electric violin manufacturer Skyinbow acoustic pickups. He is a regular co-composer with long time colleague, the Australian producer-composer Bruce Maginnis for a number of international production music library houses including Audio Network, Fable, Cavendish Music, The Funky Junkies, Intervox, Focus Music, Home Of Happy and Addictive Tracks.

Zohar's Nigun - Hallel

danielweltlinger