Klezmer Rebs / Back to Futuna &
Repertoire Best of 23 1/2 Years of Klezmer Rebs

The Klezmer Rebs appear to be New Zealand's answer to The Klezmorim, Maxwell Street Klezmer, or Metropolitan Klezmer: A versatile, fun wedding band that includes Yiddish and other Jewish repertoire, along with klezmer and whatever else the audience wants to hear. They also play extremely well. After all, they have been together for almost a quarter century!

The album opens with a nice selection of their repertoire, performed lived in a former church. With lyrics ranging from Si Kahn to traditional Yiddish and a Ladino standard, with an instrumental learned from Amsterdam Klezmer—not to mention the theme song from the Volodymyr Zelensky sitcom that led to him running for President of Ukraine as a joke. The collection closes with a really nice live "Ot a zoy" from a 2005 performance

The rest of the recording continues with favorites from their previous three releases, going back 20 years. All iterations are different, but the overall feel remains eclectic, instrumentally excellent, and compelling. Their cover of "Di Goldene Pave," from the Klezmatics/Chava Alberstein release, "The Well" is spot on (and one of three covers from that recording!). I love the jazziness of their "Moonlight" (Ladino), followed almost immediately by the hoarse-throated "rap" of "Svazda Rok-n-Roll." (In a similar vein, listen to "Anarchia Total.) The humor (and jazz) continue with "Blue Klezmer Moon" ("a klezmer ain't a klezmer if he ain't got the blues!"). Some of the songs on this collection have become standards: "Odessa," "Ot a zoy," "Yoshke." But, these recordings make them fresh and fun. For alleged anarchists, the Klezmer Rebs are very tight band that plays really interesting music well. Don't miss this one.

Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 13-Aug-2026.

Songs

1. Shik mir a shtrall (unknown) 5:03
2. Shprayz ich mir (words: S. Kahn; music: E. Teitelbaum) 3:59
3. Rubber Band (Amsterdam Klezmer Band) 4:49
4. Sluga Naroda (Dmytro Shurov) 3:03
5. Ot a zey sings the tailor (Trad/Cab Calloway) 3:20
6. La Rose Enfloresce (Los Bilbilicos) / Adio Kerida Trad) 5:05
7. Josh's song / Odessa Bulgar (J. Simon/trad.) 3:42
8. Always a Pleasure (H. Elder) 4:04
9. Di Goldene Pave (words: Anna Margolin; music: Chava Alberstein) 3:52
10. Moonlight (Ladino song) (L. Bryant, K. Tunstall, S. Solomon, N. Ammar, S. Levi, J. Breslaw, J. Walton) 4:59
11. Zvezda Rok-n-Rolla (Surgey Snurov) 2:49
12. Gedenk (Benzion Walter) 3:00
13. Yoshke / Tanz Tanz Yiddelech (trad) 4:03
14. Blue Klezmer Moon (David Kaetz) 4:48
15. Anarchia Total (Urs Signer) 2:55
16. Kumt Kumt Khaverim (Moskovitz-Signer) 2:22
17. Di Krenitze—The Well (words: Itsik Fefer; music: Chava Alberstein) 3:07
18. Questo Silvo (Clements-Lipshitz-Weinstein) 4:33
19. Od Yishama / L'khayim Yiddelekh (trad) 3:56
20. Boxerboym (words: Itsik Fefer; music: Chava Alberstein) 4:16
21. Ot a zoy (trad) 02:33

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