Blog in Dm: "The Klezmer Gene"
Over at Blog in Dm, there is lovely musing about what compels unaffiliated Jews to hire a klezmer band:
Over the past few years, I've played a lot of small weddings for unaffiliated Jews. In many instances, the calls for these affairs come in a week or two before the wedding. In one case, a fellow walked over to us at a Sunday night gig and hired us for his wedding on Thursday.
Coming off of a really fun one of these weddings, where we had them dancing in the street in Greenwich Village, I've been thinking about what makes people who have clearly been planning their dream wedding for a very long time, suddenly decide that they need "authentic" live Jewish music at their affair. more
I find it especially interesting because my boss, not a klezmer aficionado, is trying to find the perfect band for her Boston-based wedding—one that can play the jazz and oldies and rock that she and her spouse-to-be adore, but one that can also do something better than a canned klezmer set. Not quite ready to contact 'Hasidic Musician,' but not necessarily convinced to sign up for Shirim or the Klezmer Conservatory Band, either.