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The Klezmaniacs

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In this special time of pilgrimages and talks of world peace around the world
by Benjamin Gerson, pianist426@mailcity.com

Press Release and details to help

In this special time of pilgrimages and talks of world peace around the world, there is a special group of young musicians, all teenagers from the North Shore of Boston, who are embarking on a mission of outreach to Poland, Ukraine and Israel, using our music as the common denominator. This trip will be a celebration of religious mutuality, respect and tolerance.

The Klezmaniacs, the 12-member teenage Klezmer band is planning to bring its music to the world stage from June 27 to July 18, 2000, on a tour to be filmed for a national public television documentary. Since 1995, the band has been dedicated to studying the traditional, rollicking folk music of the Jewish people and sharing the music with the community. The teens enable the elderly to enjoy the music of their youth and children to be exposed to the music of their ancestors. They have performed more than 150 times for nursing homes, preschools, and interfaith events. They led the parade on Boston Common for Israel's 50th, performed at the Anti-Defamation League's Interfaith Seders, and played in a Millennium parade for 125,000 spectators. They have opened for the Yale Klezmer Band, Klezperanto, di Bostoner klezmer and The Klezmer Conservatory Band. Twice the teens have made the pilgrimage to KlezKamp, a weeklong immersion in Yiddish culture and opportunity to study with experts.

As the Klezmaniacs has improved, it has begun to spread its message of teenage enthusiasm, preservation of our folk music, and love of our heritage to a wider audience. Last spring, the teens recorded a CD, "Nokh a Mol!" ("Play It Again"), available nationally, which they have promoted through live appearances on WERS, 88.9 FM. The idea of a world tour spawned from band members.

Press release and details to help
Boston's Klezmaniacs Chosen for National PBS Documentary; Funds Still Needed

SWAMPSCOTT, MA: The Klezmaniacs, Boston's premier teen-age klezmer band, is preparing to embark on a unique and extraordinary journey; a world tour of klezmer music, culture, and peace. On June 27, a dozen Klezmaniacs, accompanied by Cantor Ken Richmond of Temple Israel in Swampscott, several Klezmaniacs parents, and lead singer Shira Shazeer's eighty-year-old grandmother, who left Poland at age nineteen, will be returning to the 'old country' trailed by a documentary film crew. While in Poland, the Klezmaniacs will perform tribute concerts at synagogues and concentration camps, lead interfaith workshops with Polish teens, and participation in Krakow's world-renowned Festival of Jewish Culture.

After twelve days in Poland, the group will continue on to Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, Boston's sister city in the former Soviet Union. There the teens will continue their inter-cultural exchange, bringing humanitarian aid and working with Ukrainian Jews and Gentiles of all ages, sharing Jewish culture through the international language of music.

The Peace-Tour will culminate in Israel where the Klezmaniacs will perform at the Jewish Theological Seminary, kibbutzim, and Yad Vashem. The time in Israel will include visits to Jerusalem, the mystical city of Tsfat, and a meeting in Nazareth with Arab Israeli teenagers to learn about the inter-cultural relationships being developed as Israel comes closer to peace with its neighbors. On July 18 the group will return to the United States to share what they have learned with their home communities.

The entire project will be produced by award-winning documentary filmmaker Janice Harrison as a one-hour feature in a series of films on teens rediscovering their roots. Josh Wiletsky, director of the PBS special, "Itzhak Perlman; In the Fiddler's House," will direct the Klezmaniacs' documentary as well. The film will be broadcast internationally on public television in the fall.

This exciting journey has been endorsed by (among others) the Timberland company, the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, Robert Lappin, Congressman Barney Frank, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Cardinal Bernard Law, Rabbi Samuel Chiel, and the Pope. The band and the documentary producer however are still in great need of funding to assure that this important project becomes a reality. Anyone who can help with the funding of this tour, please contact the Klezmaniacs through Cantor Ken Richmond, 837 Humphrey St. Swampscott, MA 01907, (781)-595-6635, e-mail: cantorkenr@aol.com. Don't forget to ask about the "thank-you" gifts including autographed copies of the Klezmaniacs' album "Nokh A Mohl, and the amazingly beautiful limited-edition color serograph, "Menorah Over Jerusalem" by Cantor Ken Richmond's Zayda. No gift is too small to make a difference. No gift is too large either.

You can make tax-deductible contributions to: "The Klezmaniacs Peace Tour", c/o Temple Israel, 837 Humphrey St., Swampscott, MA 01907

• for $18, we will send you our tape, "Nokh A Mohl" (Play it Again!)
• for $25, our CD of the same name
• for $36, an autographed tape
• for $50, an autographed CD
• for $100, an official Klezmaniacs Peace Tour t-shirt (M, L, XL)
• for $500 a Klezmaniacs performance (plus transportation if it is not local...)
• for $1000, a beautiful limited-edition, 47-color serograph of my Zayda's painting, "Menorah Over Jerusalem" (while supplies last) and listing in all local publicity
• for $10,000, listing of you or your company in the national PBS documentary
• for $100,000, all of the above, plus you will be featured as the "primary sponsor" in the documentary, plus Shira's bubbe will make you her famous matza brie

For further information, please contact the Klezmaniacs through Cantor Ken Richmond, 837 Humphrey St. Swampscott, MA 01907, (781)-595-6635, e-mail: cantorkenr@aol.com