1. Come When I Call You The Klezmatics 4:21
  2. Gonna Get Through This World The Klezmatics 4:03
  3. Headdy Down The Klezmatics 4:02
  4. Mermaid's Avenue The Klezmatics 4:30
  5. NY Psycho Freylehks The Klezmatics 4:57
  6. Shnirele, Perele [Live] The Klezmatics 7:20
  7. Der geler fink The Klezmatics 2:48
  8. Der yokh The Klezmatics 4:43
  9. Zol shoyn kumen di geule The Klezmatics 4:41
  10. I Ain't Afraid The Klezmatics 4:20

The Klezmatics are world-renowned and Grammy-winning superstars of the klezmer world. They erupted out of New York City’s East Village in 1986 and revitalized klezmer for the new century with music that is steeped in Eastern European Jewish tradition and spirituality, while incorporating contemporary themes such as human rights and anti-fundamentalism with eclectic musical influences including Arab, African, Latin and Balkan rhythms, jazz and punk.

In the course of over twenty years they have released nine albums of wild, spiritual, provocative, reflective, and ecstatically danceable music, forever redefining and transcending traditional labels.

The Klezmatics have collaborated with numerous musical luminaries including folk hero Arlo Guthrie, classical legend Itzhak Perlman, Israeli pop icons Chava Albertstein and Ehud Banay, beat poet Allen Ginsberg, The Master Musicians of Jajouka, the Ben Folds Five, and Kosher Gospel singer Joshua Nelson.

Their work has extended to numerous theater, film, dance and television projects, including Pulitzer Prize Winning playwright Tony Kushner’s “A Dybbuk” and “It’s An Undoing World” and Pilobolus Dance Theatre’s “Davenen”.

The Klezmatics have reached millions through performances and features on CBS’s “Late Night with David Letterman”, PBS’s “Great Performances”, BBC’s “Rhythms of the World,” BBC’s “John Peel Show”, various NPR programs (“A Prairie Home Companion” with Garrison Keillor, “New Sounds Live” and “Soundcheck”), CBS’s “Nightwatch”, FOX’s “After Breakfast”, “MTV News”, and “Sex and the City”. Additionally, their song “NY Psycho Freyelkhs” is a theme song for Air America Radio’s “The Al Franken Show”.

They have performed in over twenty countries at some of the most storied venues and renowned festivals worldwide, including Central Park Summerstage, Carnegie Hall, Pirineos Sur (Spain), Colours of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Pohoda Festival (Slovakia), Jazzsomer Graz (Austria), and the Heimatklänge Festival (Germany).

The Klezmatics have garnered numerous awards and accolades throughout their career, including a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album (for “Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie”), a New York Jewish Music Award (Best Klezmer Band, 2006), a GLAMA (Gay and Lesbian American Music Award) and the German Critics Award (twice), and have topped the Billboard world music charts on numerous occasions.

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LINE-UP:

Lorin Sklamberg – vocal, accordion, guitar
Frank London – trumpet, keyboards
Matt Darriau – clarinets, sax, kaval
Lisa Gutkin – vocal, violin
Paul Morrissett – bass, tsimbl
Richie Barshay – drums

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Achievements

Awards & Accolades

  • GRAMMY® Award — Best Contemporary World Music Album — for Wonder Wheel (2006)
  • Hungarian Order of Merit Knight’s Cross (Hungarian Consulate Award) — presented to Frank London for his service as a cultural ambassador for Hungarian and Hungarian-Jewish music (2016)
  • YIVO Lifetime Achievement Award (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research) (2013)
  • Premio Tenco Prize for Achievement in Songwriting (Italian Club Tenco) (2012)
  • Preis der Deutsches Schallplattenkritik (German Critics’ Award)
  • GLAMA (Gay and Lesbian American Music Award) — for The Well with Israeli folk singer Chava Alberstein (1998)
  • Top 10 Billboard Magazine World Music chart
  • Top 10 European World Music chart
  • Top 10 College Music Journal chart

Musical Collaborations

  • Filmmaker and multimedia artist Péter Forgács on “Letters to Afar
  • Pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill on “Havana Nagila
  • Classical icon Itzhak Perlman
  • American folk singer Arlo Guthrie
  • Israeli singer Chava Alberstein
  • Israeli singer Ehud Banai
  • Kosher Gospel African-American Jewish singer Joshua Nelson
  • Jazz singer/organist Kathryn Farmer
  • Avant-garde jazz keyboardist/vocalist Amina Claudine Myers
  • Singer-guitarist Raul MidÃ
  • The Master Musicians of Jajouka
  • NYC avant-rockers Elliot SharpMarc Ribot and John Zorn
  • Philadelphia jazz statesmen Bootsy Barnes and Sam Dockery
  • Folk icon Theodore Bikel (co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival)
  • Members of the Flying Karamazov Brothers
  • Ben Folds Five‘s Whatever & Ever Amen, Steven’s Last Night in Town (SONY/550)
  • Nubian Egyptian percussionist Mahmoud Fadl
  • Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg
  • Poet Jerome Rothenberg
  • John Medeski (of Medeski, Martin & Wood)
  • Canadian political folk band Moxy Früvous
  • Pop music icon Neil Sedaka
  • New York City cult girl group BETTY

Theatre Collaborations

  • Score for Pulitzer Prize winning author Tony Kushner‘s (Angels in America) adaptation of the classic Yiddish drama “A Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds” (New York Public Theater, Hartford Stage)
  • Composed/performed music for Kushner’s work-in-progress “It’s An Undoing World, or Why Should It Be Easy When It Can Be Hard” at its premiere at Los Angeles’ John Anson Ford Theater
  • Acclaimed performance piece “The Third Seder” (a multi-media Passover extravaganza featuring the Klezmatics and other cutting edge New York Jewish artists) staged at New York’s Jewish Museum and La Mama Theater

Film Collaborations

  • Jonathan Berman, “The Shvitz”
  • Gregg Bordowitz, “Fast Trip, Long Drop”
  • Judith Helfand, A Healthy Baby Girl, broadcast on PBS television series “P.O.V.”

Dance Collaborations

  • Score for the Pilobolus Dance Theatre’s Davenen (premiered at Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center and continues tbe shown internationally)
  • Provided music for new work by choreographer Twyla Tharp in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Martha Graham’s birth

Notable Performances

  • Cross-cultural project and Central Park Summerstage performances with the Master Musicians of Jajouka (a 4000-year old Moroccan ensemble known as the world’s oldest rock and roll band)
  • Sold-out performances in Paris, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Helsinki, Prague, New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles with Chava Alberstein
  • First annual Heimatklänge Festival (1988)
  • Sold out Carnegie Hall performance with Arlo Guthrie
  • Sold out Carnegie Hall performance with Neil Sedaka
  • Concert at Berlin’s historic New Synagogue with Israeli singer Chava Alberstein and Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary), Summer 2001
  • Tanglewood and Ravinia with Itzhak Perlman

TV Shows

  • PBS Emmy-Award winning special “Great Performances: In the Fiddler’s House” with Itzhak Perlman
  • CBS’s “Late Night with David Letterman”
  • CBS’s “Nightwatch”
  • Fox’s “After Breakfast”
  • BBC’s “Rhythms of the World”
  • MTV News
  • Original Klezmatics score for a cartoon narrated by comedian Jackie Mason on talk show host Rosie O’Donnell’s TV special “Kids Are Punny”
  • Nickelodeon television jingle: Klezmatics version of the jingle animated and broadcast in regular rotation
  • PBS’s internationally aired Voices: A Musical Celebration, with Israeli singer Chava Alberstein and Peter Yarrow
  • HBO’s “Sex and the City” — on-screen appearance as Charlotte’s wedding band

Radio

  • BBC’s John Peel Show
  • Regularly featured on National Public Radio’s (NPR) New Sounds and New Sounds Live, both with host John Schaefer
  • Regular guests on NPR’s Soundcheck
  • Regular guest spots on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
  • WV Public Radio’s Mountain Stage, broadcast nationally

Miscellaneous

  • Two Yiddish dance standards recorded with klezmer clarinet legend Ray Musiker for Ellipsis Arts disc Klezmer Music: A Marriage of Heaven and Earth
  • Two remixes on the Shanachie cd collection Klezmania: Klezmer for the New Millennium
  • Mash-up of ska rhythms for a cover of “Dthe Ska (KlezSkaLypso)” on the Skatalites tribute CD Freedom Sounds (Shanachie)
  • Collaboration with actor/clown Bill Irwin on I Do! Me Too, a CD benefiting the restoration of the oldest US church organ at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine
  • Featured on two of the Knitting Factory’s Jewzapalooza/Klezmer Festival CDs, including a collaboration with Anthony Coleman and poet Aloll Trehorn on “Ode to Karl Marx”
  • Previously unreleased track included on the Six Degrees CD compilation Festival of Light
  • In the Fiddler’s House (the Itzhak Perlman CD on which he plays original Klezmatics arrangements and compositions and shares writing credit with the band) has topped world and classical music charts internationally and became one of the top selling folk recordings of the past decade. Live in the Fiddler’s House, a second album, was recorded at Radio City Music Hall.

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SELECTED PRESS REVIEWS AND QUOTES:

“The Klezmatics aren’t just the best band in the klezmer vanguard; on a good night, they can rank among the greatest bands on the planet.” (Time Out New York)

“Where does klezmer meet American folk music and social activism? Thanks to The Klezmatics, we discover common ground on Brooklyn’s Mermaid Avenue, where Woody Guthrie lived in the late 1940′s. Working with Guthrie’s daughter Nora to uncover some lesser known gems from the pioneering balladeer, the band confounds expectations by tapping into a bluegrassy vibe (“Gonna Get Through This World”) and a 1950′s style pop (on “Mermaid’s Avenue”) as well as into its iconic klezmer energy on such tunes as “Goin’ Away To Sea” and “Wheel Of Life.” Regardless of what flavor a particular track takes on, however, the Klezmatics prove themselves to be sensitive interpreters of any artistic language they choose, shapeshifting their sound around vocalist Lorin Sklamberg’s lithe and heartfelt lead. While the trip along Mermaid Avenue is off the beaten Klezmatics path, it’s a welcome diversion.” (Billboard Magazine)

“What a treat to have Lorin Sklamberg singing in English, with the gentleness and precision non-Yiddish speakers sense in him elaborated and specified by the dozen Guthrie lyrics Sklamberg and his cohort turn into music. He’s cheery for the neighborhood pep rally, transported for the mystic prophecy, tenderly humorous for the lullaby, delicately feminine for the tale of two rings, a wedding singer when the music gets Balkan (or is that Middle Eastern?), a Marxist simp with a Scotch-Irish melody dreaming of roads paved with the “finest of plastics.” One of the age’s signal voices, finally available on terms an Al Green fan can understand.” (Village Voice)

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Shnirele Perele

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Spin, Dreydl, Spin

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Come When I Call You

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Hanuka Gelt

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Ale Brider

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My Psycho Freylekhs

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The Klezmatics

Klezmer, World Music