Go see the group Klezperanto perform and your first response will be a strong desire to find cover. When band leader Ilene Stahl whips out her clarinet and tightens her focus on some nonexistent object in the distance, you'll wonder what exactly is rattling around up there in her head. Soon the band starts off at breakneck pace, she swings her instrument around with deliberate laziness as if waiting for her target to make a mistake, carelessly exposing the slightest vulnerability. Her eyes start to burn, her face reveals a manic expression, as the usually pleasant countenance melts away. Suddenly the moment strikes and before you take the fraction of a second necessary to realize it, she has already let loose. The notes fly sharp and quick from the end of her weapon, spraying anyone insight with an unrelenting stream of some emotion that, in its ability to so fully penetrate its victim, would best be likened to a fusillade of bullets. Take cover, indeed.
Of course that's just your first response. I promise before the night is over you'll find yourself dancing on the tables, flying legs and flailing locks. The music is so energetic, so full of life and joy you will have no choice.
The band, which on the surface can be described as performers of Klezmer music, considers itself a fusion band that melds styles from disparate traditions - Latin and funk, zydeco and blues. Klezmer music is defined by some as "Jewish jazz," but it would be more aptly described with a few more terms. In the liner notes to the Boston area's self-titled first album, Stahl gives it a try: "dance music from the eastern European Jewish tradition...influenced by Romanian, Greek, Turkish, Polish, Moldavian, Ukranian, and Gyspy music, each style of which was blended with the sounds of Jewish cantorial music from the synagogue."
Klezperanto, which often performs in the area, has succeeded admirably in capturing the creative complexities of their live set in the studio. Insert the CD into your stereo and you can almost see Stahl and her band mates wailing about in a frenzied dance of improvisation and musical storytelling. Each track is an exemplary piece that unfailingly allows the musicians to reveal their individual talents. Even more impressive though, is an uncanny ability to bring these individuals together. Accordion, drums, banjo, stand-up bass, trombone: it is as if someone closed his eyes and pointed wildly at a catalogue of musical instruments and threw a few together randomly. But the result impresses - amazing unified works that in their elaborate layers leave listeners both dumbstruck and full of joy.
Brandon Seabrook's furious, teeth-clenched, banjo technique, and occasional exploratory electric guitar ramblings are at once confusing and amusing, adding still more texture and freeing goofiness to the whole work. Conventional wisdom tells you that it shouldn't work out. But guess what? It does. It does, thanks to Mark Hamilton with his full, winding trombone, Grant Smith's delicate, but far from simple drumming, and musical Director Evan Harlan's lovely sweet accordion tones that sonorously emanate from those oh-so plastic keys below his fingers. The CD features bassist Mark Hamilton though his spot in current live shows was recently filled by Jonti Siman.
Each member has been, at some point in his or her life, connected to Boston's New England Conservatory, and most of them were, or are still, part of the famous Klezmer Conservatory Band. One of the nation's premier groups of its kind, the Conservatory Band was founded in 1980 by NEC instructor Hankus Netsky - a modern day Klezmer Godfather of sorts - just as an American Klezmer renaissance had nearly hit its peak.
Klezperanto offers a swift kick in the toches to the solid conception of Klezmer music that has laid its roots and grown strong over the past two decades. The band offers Klezmer takes on traditonal Spanish tunes, and country interpretations of traditional Klezmer tunes, just to name a few of its original arrangements. Each track succeeds in carefully building up expectations and then maniacally tears them down. The first track, "Diddley Shiddley," may sound like the soundtrack to Fiddler on The Roof, but before you know it, Klezperanto has flown off into another world: is this Balkan brass? Zydeco dance? Ska? The answer: all of the above.
"A Night in Tunisia" offers a fresh look at the jazz standard, while a few classics like "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen" (Raisins and Almonds) suddenly feel alive and sweet, as delicious as your grandmother's matzo ball soup in September. Tunes like "I Drink to Forget," "Garsona" (The Waitress), and "Kosher Kabana" cleverly unite humor and passion to create tunes that leave your heart pumping and your mind reeling.
You've got to think about this music. Do so, and you'll realize how each well-wrought creation has a life of its own. That impulse to get up and dance the night away is no mistake. As a listener you want to share in the energy of these songs, to join in that party. Put on your hats, throw the confetti, and kick your heels in the air. It's quite a shindig they've got here and you're invited Mazel Tov!
Visit the band's website www.klezperanto.com to find future shows or to purchase Klezperanto.
