Klezmer and Maqamim in Tel Aviv
Batya Fonda posted this review of a concert in Tel Aviv to the Jewish-Music mailing list. Those familiar with the new age Tzadik recording band, Davka, or the San Francisco Klezmer Band, KlezX will be very familiar with Hoffman's work. He moved to Israel several months ago. Review reposted here with the author's permission:
Tel Aviv was definitely the place to be on Tuesday for a fabulous night of Klezmer and Yiddish, as well as Eastern Jewish sounds.
The "Karpion" trio, featuring violinist Daniel Hoffman; Avishai Fish: vocals and accordion; and Gershon Weiserfihrer: baritone and oud (not at the same time!)—gave very interesting renditions of Yiddish and other folksongs from central Europe. All three are terrific musicians—and proved that going back to the roots of klezmer and Yiddish folksong can be a really gratifying experience. A few years ago, I did a workshop on Yiddish folksong with Avishai, who has an enormous repertoire of these songs.
The other three bands performing that night were also GREAT: "Oy Division", with guest artists Zev Feldman (tsimbl) and vocalist Noam Inbar; a tenor sax trio (Eyal Talmudi) with a jazzy sound showing the general direction klezmer is moving towards today; and, finally, "Yonah", a band which has nothing to do with klezmer, but performing a genre of music which is becoming popular in Israel—i.e., renditions based on piyyutim and the Eastern maqamim (Turkey, Haleb, Syria, Bavel … Iraq, Morocco, Persia, etc.).
All in all, an absolutely wonderful evening spanning an authentic, interesting and very enjoyable Jewish experience.