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This has been a real up and down year for me, in terms of music. The year started off with much excitement--an amazing non-klezmer collaboration between Alan Bern and Guy Klucevsek. By spring there was the new David Krakauer album, and finally a new Sephardic music by Judith Cohen. Then by summer the Mikveh album and Josh Waletzky's albums were finally out, and then, in the fall, just as I was thinking about an unusually strong interest in Yiddish dance on the Jewish-music mailing list and digesting the amazing new book on European Jewish culture, "Virtually Jewish" by Ruth Ellen Gruber, there was a slew of new releases, some of which get mentioned here, some of which I didn't have time to think about before the year changed and will have to wait. But, even so, the long-awaited release of Sandra Layman's archival recordings, a new album by Di Naye Kapelye, a new album by the "Klezmer en Buenos Aires" guys.... It has been a good time to be listening to new and wonderful music. As will also be clear from the "Top 10" list, neither I, nor the KlezmerShack, have been confined to writing about music that is strictly "klezmer". The purpose of the KlezmerShack is to let people know about exciting new Jewish music, and exciting new music that connects to klezmer. And sometimes, we report on music that is just plain exciting. If you look at the header for the KlezmerShack news service (to which anyone can subscribe--you don't necessarily have to come to the KlezmerShack to read about what's new) you'll see "New Jewish music, culture, and interesting sounds from everywhere". That's us. I think this report on the recordings from the last year that stuck with me will provide ample evidence of same!
Outside of recordings, and getting back to the "klezmer" side of the KlezmerShack, what I did notice this past year was how often I was seeing klezmer dance (henceforth labeled "Yiddish dance" on this website, per near-consensus on the Jewish-music mailing list) instruction. People love dancing, but bobbing around doing vague renditions of the Israeli hora isn't enough, especially when there is such a rich tradition of Eastern European Jewish dances. I first paid attention at a friend's wedding over the summer. Then there were requests on the Jewish-music list for dance instructors, notices about dance weekends, and even a debate over what to call this stuff! The KlezmerShack has done its best to encourage this discussion. It is my opinion that dance is a critical part of making klezmer a part of our lives, rather than just a concert medium based on some "vaguely remembered and appropriated culture from long ago". I'm also in love with new Jewish music (as exemplified, for instance, by Brave Old World), or music that started with primary Jewish sources and moved on into newly explored territory (as exemplified, say, by Naftule's Dream), but that's for concertizing. The tradition that was supposedly revived includes audience participation in the form of energizing, exciting dancing. I'm glad to notice that it's becoming common.
'Nuff said. There was some damn good music released in 2001. Here's the list of the ones I want to make sure don't get lost in the shuffle. The "KlezmerShack 2001 Top Recordings", in roughly chronological order:
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 Guy Klucevsek & Alan Bern / Accordance, 2000. Winter & Winter, 910058-2, WinterProduction@compuserve.com
The album that got me through the winter wasn't klezmer, or even necessarily Jewish. But the matching of folk avant garde-ist Guy Klucevsek with Brave Old World co-founder Alan Bern was inspired. I haven't had so much fun since Klucevesk's "Accordion Tribe" a few years ago. What makes this music worth listening, to me, is the creation of new folk rhythms and explorations out of old. The result is something that feels like it could come from an old-time Yiddish cafe, or perhaps a Parisian Yiddish cafe in Cracow's Kazmierz district, except that, instead of being "Virtually Jewish" (to play on Ruth Ellen Gruber's new book of that title) this is the new folk music of those who are actually there today in that cafe. "Folk" in this instance, meaning an informal, uncontrived sense of naturally flowing harmonies and sound explorations. This isn't a jarring avant garde album, it's an album of exploration--what happens when you actually are at that leading edge. And boy do I enjoy it. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 David Krakauer / A new hot one, 2001. Label Bleu LBLC 6617, www.label-bleu.com
I have always admired David Krakauer's clarinet playing, but have never been excited about his performances or albums, all of which seemed more about Krakauer's pyrotechniques than any sense of collaboration. This album is different. He has a great band, his playing only gets better (as if it needed improvement) and the music is high intensity great. At the time I wrote: "I think this is the sort of album that opens doors--its an album that will appeal to anyone who enjoys that area where jazz and rock mix, and if the listener comes out digging klezmer, that's just fine. But this is also, unmistakeably, a klezmer album. For those of us who listen to a lot of klezmer, this is, finally, an explosive, exciting klezmer album. And after years of mere Krakauer appreciation, I am absolutely a Krakauer fan." [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Judith Cohen / Songs of Sephard - "I'd like to begin the story", Pneuma, PN-270, 2000. www.ctv.es/USERS/pneuma/histe.htm
I'm still as excited by this recording as I was when I first heard Cohen performing the material, and when I first listened to it. If you are looking for a sense of Sephardic song (as opposed to the glossy, homogenized commercial equivalent), then this is a beautifully-recorded, excellently documented place to begin. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Josh Waletzky / Crossing the shadows, 2001, www.crossingtheshadows.com
This is the album of the year. It is so wonderful to listen to, and so significant in terms of how it got there. In our house, we keep a couple of copies around in the vain hope that there is one available wherever we are and want to (again) listen to it. Waletzky, a founding member of Kapelye, is better known as an independent filmmaker ("Image before my eyes," "Partisans of Vilna," etc.). Here he records his exquisite new Yiddish songs to traditional-feeling new music. His own piano playing, and the ensemble work with Jeff Warschauer and Deborah Strauss is amazing. There simply isn't anything to say about this album other than how good it is, how compellingly good it is. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Mikveh / (Traditional Crossroads CD 80702-4305-2).
I don't know that I have more to say about this recording except that it is profoundly good. There are other all-woman Jewish music ensembles, but Mikveh marks a coming together of such amazing talent, covering the broad range of song and music from Balkan to klezmer to Yiddish, that I fall in love again each time I hear the album. If I have a complaint, it's that they aren't touring, because the only thing better than seeing them in your mind's eye as you listen to the album, is seeing them in person. Although the album is not about new Yiddish song, I do want to note "Yosemame" (Orphan Mama). In choosing to present a song about miscarriage, Mikveh is addressing a "quiet grief of family life, endured in silence," here given voice. The Mikveh album doesn't just make you feel good about the music, it makes you feel good about women and women's strength, and the beauty of strong women making good music together. It's perfectly okay to love the album because the music is excellent. This is also an album that can be listened to more deeply. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Stacy Phillips / From the inside (Archduke Combine 02. Contact: Stacy Phillips, 298 Cromwell Hill Rd., Monroe, NY 10950).
As was the case with the Klucevsek/Bern album, here's a delightful mix of musics and styles that has little to do with klezmer, but everything to do with music that matters. In this case, we're talking about American folk traditions and lots of dobro and Hawaiian slack key guitar--prime starting points for lovely, lovely music. I also appreciated the bluegrass gospel tradition represented by two new bible stories, one about Ruth, one about Absalom. And, like the Klucevsek/Bern album, this is one that you won't hear about elsewhere, but you'll enjoy and enjoy once you listen. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Sandra Layman / Little Blackbird, www.cdbaby.com/cd/layman
You wouldn't think live recordings from 20 years ago would sound this good. You would be so, so so very wrong. This may be the best violin playing of the year, and the accompaniments by the likes of Alex Eppler, Joel Rubin and Lisa Rose, and others, aren't shabby, either. In these recordings, Layman ranges all across former ottoman territory with Greek, Balkan, klezmer, Turkish music, all performed with dexterity and verve and beauty. I've heard some of the recordings from which this selection were culled, and I'd have voted for a double album. Still, the best of the best of Ms. Layman and friends is damn fine. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Di Naye Kapelye / A Mazeldiker Yid, 2001. RIEN CD 37. (Oriente Music, www.oriente.de. US Distribution: Hatikvah Music, e-mail: Hatikvah Music">Hatikvah Music.
Whether live or on recording, Di Naye Kapelye blow me away. This is roots klezmer in the best way, played in the style that would have had folks dancing madly all night a hundred years ago, just as it compels us to do the same, today. The core band is accompanied by a couple of members of Muszikas on several numbers, which adds even more instrumental versatility. Still, one doesn't listen to Di Naye Kapelye because any single musician sounds outstanding (several are), but because the ensemble sounds so tight--pretty crazy when you're talking about unrestrained, variable rhythm, follow the feets wild dance music. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Lerner & Moguilevsky (aka "Klezmer en Buenos Aires") / Shtil, 2000, Los Años Luz Discos, LAL008, available outside Argentina from the Tango Store
This is another side of the Argentinian duo that is wowing audiences at home and throughout Europe. In some ways, this album is an exploration of the silence between and inside notes, but that sounds too vapid to describe what is actually happening hear. And Moguilevsky and Lerner are far too intense to be described as "silent". Still, there is something very special going on here. When listened to alongside their previous "Basovilbaso", one feels that one has explored some klezmer place very South American, very jazzy, and very special. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Bang on a Can / Renegade Heaven, 2000 (cantaloupe CA21001) www.bangonacan.com.
Okay, so I listened to a lot of music this year that wasn't so connected to klezmer, or even to other Jewish sources. So be it. This is the album that best nourished the Terry Riley minimalist shifting intensity and repetitive sounds side of my spirit this year. But it isn't just me. I got turned on to this album because George Robinson mentioned it. And when I played it for my 16-year-old, he took possession and hasn't returned it. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Abby Rabinowitz / We used to dance. Yamnua Records, YR7425-CD, www.flutestory.com
This is an album that I listened to all year, thinking it should be written about, and finally did so only at the end of the year. It's such a pleasant, wonderful pick-me-up that I was reluctant to put it away. Rabinowitz, of course, has been flautist with the Klezmer Conservatory Band for years. This represents a chance for her to step away from strictly klezmer music and play to satisfy herself. I'm very glad that she did. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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 Musa Berlin / Aneinu
v'yom koreinu (Answer us on the day we call), 2001, Gal-Paz, Israel, in the US, Tara Music. Double CD.
This is the year that I finally got a chance to sit and shmooze with Moshe (Musa) Berlin for a whole afternoon. It was one of those rare, intense conversations that arise seldom, and leave one feeling spiritually enriched. This album, a double CD recording of works primarily by Shlomo Carlebach, is the closest to capturing the wisdom and dance of that talk that I can find. Although some aspects of the recording are rough--it's like listening to the Beatles live, except that here it's screaming yeshiva students singing the words as Musa's clarinet wails in the foreground and the band backs him up. This is probably territory unfamiliar to fans of Carlebach's music (Berlin's playing--not the screaming yeshiva students) so I especially want to make as many people aware of the recording as possible. The recording was made, by the way, by Joel Rubin. [original KlezmerShack mention]
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