The Zamlers Trio
Tunes from the Kiselgof-Makonevetsky Corpus
The Zamlers Trio / Tunes from the Kiselgof-Makonevetsky Corpus, 2026
CD or digital download available from Bandcamp.
What does a klezmer do when she is mentoring a huge archive of klezmer material and helping ensure public access and use? Obviously, you not only involve a huge community of folks to help digitize the music and words, but, when the opportunity arises, you gather up another couple of hot klezmorim and demonstrate some of your favorites to get people dancing. Thus, this live recording by the Zamlers ("collectors"—see, for instance the Klezmer Institute's "Trampled Manuscripts" program). It isn't enough to "save" these materials. They need to be shared and played. (There are deeper programs to analyze the music and to develop software to facilitate that work, as well.) The collection was gathered during the Anski folklore expedition through the Pale of Settlement during 1912–1914. The names for the collection come from Zinovy Kiselgof, who amassed a trove of cylinder sound recordings, and a 230-page manuscript of wedding instrumental pieces transcribed by Abraham Yehoshua Makonovetski.
By the time the band has warmed up and into "Oy Avrum Skotshne" the excitement is palpable. The tunes covered here range throughout a typical Eastern European wedding ceremony, from greeting guests, entertaining everyone at dinner, and of course, dancing. Some of the pieces are slower, rhapsodic, even introspective, as the lovely "Eléonore's Nign" (wordless tune). Others are straightforward dance pieces, such as the "Dance Suite" or "Kosher Tantz". There is an almost classical complexity to suites such as "Tsushpil & Freylekhs." And finally, to accompany the guests home, "A gasn shtikl."
The playing is masterful. Keryn Kleiman's violine is a treat. The ubiquitous Raffi Boden and veteran Christina Crowder (whom I first met in Budapest decades ago, playing and learning from an older generation of musicians not far from the villages where the pieces in this collection were originally collected) hold everything together melodically on cello and accordion, respectively.
This recording is thus both a treat and an inspiration. This is not only music that wants to be played, but music that wants to be played with as much life as the trio brings here on this recording, and in ongoing workshops facilitated by the Klezmer Institute folks around the country.
Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 19-Jul-2026.
Performers
Raffi Boden: Cello
Christina Crowder: Accordion & Tsimbl
Keryn Kleiman: Violin
Songs
- Shabesdiker Nign 4:27
- Oy Avram Skotshne 3:06
- Yiddishe Fantazie 4:31
- Sobolevski's Nign in 3 2:47
- Kosher Tantz (Peylish) 2:02
- Eléonore's Nign 3:45
- Hannah's Skotshne 2:20
- Gedanken 4:00
- Tsushpil & Freylekhs 4:26
- Dance Suite 6:33
- A Gasn Shtikl 3:26
The artists would like to thank the Institute for Manuscripts of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine as the holders and protectors of these precious manuscripts.
