A Healthy & Happy New Year To All
Our Customers & Friends
Rita, Gloria and All The Girls At
Handbags
which go back centuries,
when Klezmer bands would
turn up to help celebrate
Jewish events such as wed-
dings and b'nai mitzvah.
The Book Peddler reports on
the various Klezmer bands
around the country like the
name of the group in Mont-
pelier, Vt., called the "Nisht
Geferlach Klezmer Band."
Literally translated, that
means not dangerous.
The typical instruments in
a Klezmer band include a
trumpet, an accordion, a
piano, a violin, a clarinet, a
tuba, a drum and a trombone.
The wail of the clarinet is
often the most penetrating
sound. Some Klezmer bands
also have a male or female
vocalist.
Stewart Mennin, who
organized the New Shtetl
Band in Albuquerque, N.M.,
reported that he had played
traditional Yiddish music for
more than 25 years, before ac-
cepting a faculty appoint-
ment to the University of
New Mexico of Medicine.
When he relocated to Albu-
querque, he felt he had
become musically isolated.
On a trip to northern
California, he stopped in to
visit Mary Schwartz, a friend
and collector of old ethnic
recordings. Mennin reported
that he had challenged
Schwartz "to play me some
recordings that could lure me
back to Klezmer music."
Schwartz played a number
of old Yiddish recordings
which Mennin said inspired
him to return to Albuquerque
to work out some way of once
again playing long-forgotten
Yiddish melodies, Klezmer-
style. He then formed the
New Shtetl Band.
Mennin reported he found
about two dozen organized
religious and cultural Jewish
groups in New Mexico who
liked hearing his music.
"As we have come to see it,
each one is a village, a shtetl,
and we are their itinerant
Klezmer band," Mennin
wrote. "We travel around
playing for all their events, af-
fairs, festivals and holidays."
He added, "Jewish children
hear the music of their grand-
parents for the first time here
in the desert of the
Southwest. Sometimes we
play for mixed marriages —
half of the crowd may be
native American or Hispanic,
and the other half Jewish, but
everyone seems to get involv-
ed in the music.
"Many times, guests have
come from the East Coast for
the wedding. Time and again,
these visitors remark: 'I can't
believe that I'm hearing this
music in Albuquerque.' "
Applegate Square
Luggage
Travelers Tower
iyLLAyikvLin CARE
CUTER
Management and Staff
Wish Their Customers & Friends
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR
We Will Be Closed September 21st
BEST WISHES FOR A
626-5511 • 626-1173
6672 Orchard Lake Rd.
Reg. Hours 9-5:30, Thur. 9-8:30
Closed Monday
in the West Bloomfield Plaza
HAPPY, HEALTHY
NEW YEAR
NusRALAs
WE PUT FASHION IN A BOX AND A LID ON PRICES.
Name Brand Shoes
FARMINGTON HILLS
HUNTERS SQUARE/TALLY
855-2050
HAPPY
NEW YEAR
HASP" PO*1 61 1 01‘
cAlth
The shipper who does the packing Noll
W. Bloomfield 6453 Farmington Rd. (At Maple Rd.)
Birmingham 2523 W. Maple (At Cranbrook)
Peace to you and
your family during
this time of
Rosh Hashanah
from your friends
at Farmer Jack.
FARMER
JACK
855.5822
433-3070
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
113