Arts & Entertainment CULTURE from page 82 Di Naye Kapele: "We're trying to give life to an authentic style and not treat it as a museum piece," says the klezmer group's founder, Bob Cohen. AN EVENING OF COMEDY WITH ROBERT KLEIN PLUS 6 GUYS FROM DETROIT SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 • 7 PM Tickets available at palacelletcom , The Palace Box Office and all ticketmaster locations. Charge at 248-645-6666. • r _Pg_PO rCITZ I One Lunch or One Dinner Entree - Catering 61_ Carry-Out T % c - Daily Specials When You Buy A Lunch Or Dinner Of Equal Or Greater Value • 1 coupon per table c ^ t4.(t gic'e - 6o Gourmet Italian Dishes to choose from Lyalid Mon.-Thurs. • With Coupon • Expires 9/13/02_1 Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:3o-io; Fri g. Sat 4:30-11; Sunday 4:30-9 62.63 Orchard Lake Rd in Sugartree Plaza 2.4 8 . 8 55-3993 W. Bloomfield 620939 finD EUERYTHInG Lunch Dinner PLAN AHEAD. Call Chef Raseol TODAY to order . your trays for FROM CHEERS TO CflRS Ill THE CUIS Authentic Style Roots also are very important to Bob Cohen, who settled in Hungary after traveling from New York to explore his mother's homeland and its music 13 years ago. Once involved with the country, he formed Di Naye Kapelye (The New Band), a klezmer group that boasts a string orientation and also is new to "Ashkenaz." "The clarinet is there, but the violin is the lead instrument in our band," says Cohen, 46, who combed the out- skirts of Hungary and Romania to find people who had played in bands of the past and could teach him the sounds. "We're trying to give life to an authentic style and not treat it as a museum piece. We want to play happy music and use some acoustic tricks so that it all sounds the way people dance." Cohen's Saturday and Sunday per- , formances in Toronto will emphasize the music he found in Romania and recorded for his most recent CD, Mazeldiker Yid. Cohen traces his interest in music to a blackout in New York during the 1960s. Left with lots of time and no TV, he tried playing his father's har- monica. Later, he went on to the man- dolin and violin and performed world music in Boston, where he was a lan- guage researcher at Boston University. "We'll be playing music that was popular when the Jewish presence was strong in Eastern Europe," says Cohen, who has served as a musical consultant and did arrangements for the film Jacob the Liar. "Sixty years after the Holocaust, I'm still looking for something that was there." Break the Fast! Daily Specials Homemade Soups Carryout OPEN 7 DAYS Mon.-Sat. 10-9 • Sunday 10-3 8/23 2002 84 (248) 926-9555 3426 E.West Maple @ Haggerty This N' That Among the other klezmer groups appearing at Ashkenaz are the Cracow Klezmer Band, Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Khevrisa. The theater program includes Seder, which has teens looking for musical heroes with the help of a star from the Yiddish stage, and The Trials of John Demjanjuk, which probes the fate of an accused Nazi. The Last Klezmer, a film produced by former Detroiter Yale Strom, docu- ments the life of a musician, while Jewish Luck introduces audiences to a Russian silent movie made in 1925. Paint and photo artists, sing-along programs, street entertainers and a Fressers' Paradise at the World Cafe round out the festival. "I hope people leave the festival with a broader understanding of what Jewish culture is," Smolkin says. "I want people to especially take note of that through a multimedia installation and the parade on Sunday." ❑ "Ashkenaz: A Festival of New Yiddish Culture" runs Aug. 31- Sept. 2 at the Harbourfront, Centre in Toronto. Many per- formances are free; althou g h some do charge admission. Kurt and Annette Bjorling will join Mitch Smolkin 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1, at Lakeside Terrace. Smolkin reads from White Challah 2:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 2, at the Studio Theatre. Kaeja d'Dance will appear noon Monday, Sept. 2, at the Studio Theatre. Kaflea and Son will be performed 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, and 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1, at the Studio Theatre. Di Naye Kapelye will entertain 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, at the Harbourfront Centre Concert Stage and 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1, at the Ann Tindal Stage. For more information and a com- plete schedule, call (416) 703- 6892 or go to the Web site at - www.ashkenazfestival.corn.