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The TraditiOnal Way

AMES D. BESSER
Special to the Jewish News

B

y now, rare is the
American Jew who
doesn't know a little
about klezmer
music. And there are more and
more klezmer bands crisscross-
ing the country — some highly
traditional, some fusing mod-
ern and traditional elements.
The Budowitz klezmer band
represents the traditional end
of the spectrum — so tradi-
tional, in fact, that they perform on
old instruments or meticulously recre-
ated copies.
•
In part this site is intendea as a bill-
board and CD catalogue for the
American-European band. But dig a
little deeper, and you'll find an amaz-
ing array of information about the
music and its incredible history.
First, the commercial stuff the
homepage starts with a description of
the group's latest CD, Wedding
Without a Bride, which presents ' the
entire forgotten music of the East
European traditional Jewish wedding
in a concert setting." And there are
the usual raves from the critics, who
use adjectives like "deeply authentic,"
"raw" and "wild" to describe the band.
A particularly interesting section
describes the instruments used by
Budowitz. Here we learn that the vio-
lin was the musical anchor of most
klezmer groups until the beginning of
the 20th Century, when "it was gradu-
ally replaced by the clarinet as the
quintessentially Jewish instruilient."
The group also uses a three-string
viola, modified for playing continuous
chords — a traditional instrument
largely forgotten by today's Klezmer
revival bands.
And there's a good description of
the tsimbl, a cousin of today's ham-
mered dulcimer, which was the
rhythmic and timbral backbone of

"

Wedding Without A Bs ide

Klezmer music from the 16th to the
late 19th Century"
An 'Ask Dr. Klez" feature provides
detailed answers to questions about
the music. An example: "did klez-
morim of the 19th century really use
wooden flutes to beat their sheep
when they strayed?"
There's also an excellent, detailed
history of klezmer music. Klezmer
musicians in the old country played
more than just "Jewish" music, we
learn; they were musical jacks-of-all-
trades who would often play court
dances, light classical and popular
music. Often, klezmer bands would
get together with gypsy bands for gigs.
The design of the site is straightfor-
ward, navigation is a cinch and there are
reasonably good graphics. Only one
complaint, there are no sound clips.
Still, the Budowitz home page
leaves most other klezmer sites in the
dust when it comes to content.
Check it out at:
www.budowiti.com ❑

-

Jewish Brazil

Admit it: you don't know bubkes
about Jewish life in Brazil. If you want
to change that, check out the new
English version of the Jewish Brazil
home page. A LOT easier to read than
the Portuguese.
vvwvv.jewishbrazil.com/english.htm

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