Swinging Klezmer An Ann Arbor group combines old and new into a rollicking Jewish party. SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS I here must be more — being Jewish must be funna — Than mak- ing a pledge and show- ing up on Rosh Hashanah. Expressing his up- beat belief by writing and singing those lyrics, Neil Alexander, along with his Klezmer Fusion Band, last year set a rousing tone that caught up more than 500 fast steppers in a Purim celebra- tion. During that Klezmer Dance Party sponsored by the Jewish Community Center of Washte- naw County, a spirited, join-the- fun mood led to this year's encore event planned for 7:30 p.m. Sat- urday, Feb. 18, at Washtenaw Community College. Already rehearsing the tradi- tional Yiddish and Hebrew tunes they modernize with English lyrics and rock 'n' roll beats, the six- member combo is planning some new fare for the holiday fes- tivities. Also featured will be folk dances as taught by Ellen Moss, kosher gourmet food and a chance to make symbolic masks. Costumes are optional. "We will go from heavy Mediterranean music to Israeli to Chasidic to swing to tango to waltz to rock 'n' roll and back again," said Dr. Alexander, 39, an Ann Arbor research physician who formed the band in 1993 and now accepts as many as six en- gagements a month. "The lyrics I write are mostly about Jewish pride. The majority of the songs are corny, but they're fun. Last year, we did a rap num- ber, and this year we're going to add Jewish lyrics to some popular rock 'n' roll and R & B tunes. "We've been asked to do line dance music and contemporary dance music. Each time we do a Yiddish theater tune, you can bet we'll follow up by doing some swing, tangos, waltzes and polkas." The six musicians in the band come from a rotating pool of about 10 to accommodate varying schedules and performance des- tinations around the state. Dif- ferent locales can mean different audience reactions. lowship brought him to this area in 1987, and he joined klezmer groups in Lansing and Ann Ar- bor. Because the other musicians followed a style that they thought represented the past, he was con- fined strictly to revivalist klezmer. "The problem for me was the way it had been done always seemed to change," Dr. Alexan- der said. "It depended where the musicians were. The music may have grown up in Eastern Eu- rope, but when they brought it to the United States, they added to it. "I figured the next step for me was to form my own band. I like playing traditionally, but I also like it with a little beat — rock, Latin, swing or jazz." When the singer/guitarist started to assemble musicians to fuse old and new sounds, he looked for professional jazz artists who also could understand how to play ethnic music. He wound up with a compatible group of in- strumentalists who individually could play a keyboard, drums, bass, mandolin or clarinet. Core performers include Ralph Katz, Nan Nelson, Don Prior, David Sterns and Stephanie Ozer. Others are Mark Kieswet- ter, Pete Kahn and Dan Meslan- ka. The group sometimes brings its repertoire to non-Jews and has a large spring concert planned at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, where the show will be for the KLEZMER page 88 FEBRUARY Dr. Neil Alexander, second from right, and his Klezmer Fusion Band. "When we go to East Lansing, the kids go crazy," Dr. Alexander said. "I've never seen anything like it. They go into circles and dance, and they'll do chorus lines. They'll come up behind me as I'm singing and sing with me. "Guys have tipped me by putting quarters on my music stand. I think it's just great be- cause they're trying to form a rap- port with me, and they see me and the music as approachable. They bond with it. I engage them and interact with them. "One time people were going around in a circle, and I went into a flamenco rhythm. A woman got up all of a sudden, put a rose be- tween her teeth and started danc- ing." Dr. Alexander has been devot- ed to religious music since he be- gan singing in Minnesota youth groups. He went on to become a chazzan, traveling to small towns throughout the Midwest, and he also sang and played the guitar on the wedding and anniversary circuit while attending medical school at the University of Min- nesota. "I did my internal medicine residency in New Mexico, where one of the foremost Balkan clar- inet players lived," Dr. Alexan- der said. "I walked up to him, introduced myself and asked if he needed a singer. That was my first foray into klezmer music. "We made one recording that has had national distribution through Yiddish music cata- logues." A University of Michigan fel- Last year's Klezmer Dance Party.