Frejlechs - Soll Sayn Freylekh - Jiddische Klezmer-Musik (1991)

Klezmer is a traditional style of wedding music played by Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews. Part of Yiddish heritage, modern klezmer integrates different influences, such as Roma music and jazz.

The term "klezmer" derives from Yiddish, meaning "vessels of song," or music instruments. Traditionally played at weddings by itinerant Jewish musicians, it is a celebratory music with a strong Rom influence. The genre evolved after the arrival of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the US in the late 19th and early 20th century, building on early jazz and international influences. In the 1970s, klezmer went through a revival led by Giora Feidman, The Klezmorim, Zev Feldman, Andy Statman, and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.

The mid-1990s were the heyday of the Berlin klezmer revival. In 1998 the Berlin cultural bimonthyl Zitty advertised as many as 302 klezmer concerts, most of which were staged by the Hackesches Hoftheater. Ten years later, when the theater had been closed for two years, the number of klezmer concerts dropped by more than 50 percent. In 2013 there were more than twenty professional and semiprofessional klezmer bands performing in Berlin, comprised of both Germand and foreign musicians, both Jewish and non-Jewish. There are a number of clubs, bars and cafés, as well as churches that have klezmer in their concert repertoire. 

Klezmer has been a controversial phenomenon in post-Holocaust Europe, ever since this traditional Jewish wedding music made it to the concert halls and discos of Berlin, Warsaw, Budapest and Prague. Played mostly by non-Jews and for non-Jewish audiences, it quickly gained the epithet of “fakelore” and was branded commercially-motivated heritage appropriation.

Tracklist:

Cafe Klez
1 Moldever Hore (Moldavian Hora) 3:01
2 Sherele 2:41

Zol Zayn Freylekh
3 Doyne / Kiever Freylekhs (Doina/Kiev Freylekhs) 3:14
4 Odeser Bulgar (Bulgar From Odessa) 2:38

A Kholem Fun Libe
5 Di Sapozhkelakh (The Little Boots) 3:38
6 Di Zilberne Khasene (The Silver Wedding) 2:21
7 Di Goldene Khasene (The Golden Wedding) 3:14
8 Medyatsiner Valts (Medyatsiner Waltz) 2:28

Ale Lakhn, Makhn Fun Mir Shpas
9 Papirosn (Cigarettes) 5:54

In Der Heym In Shtetele Amol
10 Sirbe (Serba) 3:01
11 Terkishe Melodye (Turkish Melody) 3:13
12 Bukevine (Bucovina) 2:13

Veln Zayn Gute Tsaytn
13 Shnirele, Perele (String, Pearl) 5:25
14 Shlof, Mayn Kind (Sleep, My Child) 2:32


Frejlechs - Soll Sayn Freylekh - Jiddische Klezmer-Musik (1991)
(320 kbps, cover art included)