The Prague Post
September 7th, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre

Home » Archives » Night & Day

Something old, something new

An inventive Dutch band takes klezmer into the 21st century
Stage Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
January 30th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
AKB's music is so hip that its last album was a collection of remixes.
enlarge
Amsterdam Klezmer Band

When: Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7:30
Where: Palác Akropolis
Tickets: 310 Kč, available through Ticketpro and at the venue

Although there are references dating as far back as biblical times, klezmer music is probably better known as the traditional instrumental party music of Yiddish-speaking East European Jews. An often joyous, celebratory sound based on violin, clarinet, trombone and saxophone, it’s capable of lifting even the most downtrodden of spirits.
In recent years, klezmer has experienced a transformation, with new groups like the Amsterdam Klezmer Band helping to lead the way. Formed in 1996 by saxophonist Job Chajes, AKB served its apprenticeship playing on the streets of its hometown. Determined to make it big beyond Dutch borders, the band members began fusing klezmer with all sorts of Gypsy and Balkan dance influences, with some quite amazing results.
Last year, they broke out of their safety zone by releasing Amsterdam Klezmer Band Remixed, an album consisting entirely of remixes. Luminaries such as Shantel, a prime mover behind the Balkan pop scene and founder of the Bucovina Club, and DJ Yuriy Gurzhy of Russendisko fame managed to boot AKB’s sound well into the 21st century. Turntable masters like C-mon and Kypski also applied a new, deep-groove edge to some of the band’s best-known songs. Despite complaints from diehard purists that the band had strayed too far from the klezmer rule book, most rock critics gave it a thumbs up.
Joop van der Linden, AKB’s stalwart trombonist, attempts to set the record straight by explaining the reasoning for re-branding the sound as neu-klezmer.
“We chose Shantel because we had already done some shows with him, and it was a natural idea to do a remix with him,” says van der Linden, who first brought his trombone to the band six years ago. “After that, some other members of the band started doing remixes as well. That said, it’s still vitally important to keep the old traditions alive. But what we do now is neu-klezmer. We build upon the klezmer tradition like Charlie Parker did with jazz. He created a new style that was still definitely jazz.”
With the addition of a new singer, Natalia Rochalsky, chosen for her versatility and her ability to sing everything from French chansons to traditional klezmer, it now seems that all eight members of the combo are prepared to add input to AKB’s ever-growing cultural melting pot.
“We all listen to everything from Boban Marković (the old stuff) to lots of Romanian singers and accordion players — there’s just so many,” says van der Linden. “We also like the electro Gypsy stuff, Russendisko, Shantel and lots of excellent stuff coming from Turkey.”
Although the band can boast some highly impressive albums, such as 2002’s Limonchiki, 2005’s Son and the aforementioned remix album, what AKB does best is perform live onstage. They’ve become a firm favorite not only on the festival circuit, but in clubs as well. And van der Linden is proud of having the travel bug.
“We’ve certainly been around,” he laughs. “But I would say that last year’s Sziget Festival in Hungary was one of the best. Oh, and Istanbul was very nice as well. The Turkish audience really liked us. There’s a real connection between Turkish music and what we are doing.”
With the prevailing dichotomy of their appeal, band members sometimes have to choose between relatively calm “sit down” concerts and dance sets, which encourage a lot more liberated expression. Returning to Prague for the first time since the 2006 United Islands festival, van der Linden confides that he and his band mates opted for a dance set.
“We get more feedback from the audience at a dance show,” he explains. “And there’s a sort of ‘togetherness,’ meaning that we make the party together, the audience and us. At a concert, communication is more one-way, from us to the audience. Much as we like to do concerts, we have a slight preference for dance shows.”
Prague promises to be quite a hoedown. Bring your dancing shoes and plenty of enthusiasm.
James Scanlon can be reached at
features@praguepost.com

James Scanlon can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (30/01/2008):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.