The Klezmatics Display the Joys of A Yiddish Roots Band and Beyond at Toronto's 2016 Ashkenaz Festival

If I’d only learned about the 2016 Ashkenaz Festival sooner, I’d be writing this in Toronto instead of Central Park. Wow! How did I manage to miss such a not-to-missed international collection of superstar diversity! Don’t believe me? See for yourself what you’re missing at www.ashkenaz.ca .

This year from far Japan, clap your hands and stamp your feet to Jinta La-Mvta, an irresistible quartet that combines Japanese marching band bravura with Jewish klezmer tunes and New Orleans jazz. From Baltimore, culinary historian Michael Twitty’s Kosher Soul unites Jewish and African American food traditions and hopefully teaches us how to say “Ess, ess, mein kind!” in Hip-Hop, while Toronto homeboy Michael Wex’s Rhapsody in Shmaltz explains why we can’t stop eating Jewish food. 

From Florida, Avi Hoffman’s dramatic double header has him discussing the five decades he’s performed in Yiddish theater, as well as starring in a limited run as Willie Loman in a Yiddish Translation (with English subtitles naturally) of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, a performance which rewarded him with a New York Drama Desk nomination and accolades from Miller’s sister, actor Joan Copeland! 

A major musical highlight of 2016 Ashkenaz Festival is the opening night concert by The Grammy-Award winning Klezmatics, celebrating their 30 anniversary with the release of a brand new CD, their eleventh, entitled Apicorsim – the Yiddish word for heretics, an apt description for the offbeat musical track Klezmatics band members have followed. Original members Lorin Sklamberg (lead vocals, accordion, guitar, piano), Frank London (trumpet, keyboards, vocals), and Paul Morrissett (bass, tsimbl, vocals) are still on board alongside longtime associates Matt Darriau (kaval, clarinet, saxophone, vocals), Richie Barshay (percussion) and Lisa Gutkin (violin and vocals). They’ve performed in 20 countries, collaborated with such brilliant artists as violinist Itzhak Perlman and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, BUT each Klezmatic has a career outside the band, which supplies each one with new ideas to bring back to the group.

Frank London grew up in Brooklyn “in a not particularly Jewish household with no Yiddish music.  It was a white household but I love African-American music. It was an English-speaking household but I’m drawn to Spanish and salsa music. I think growing up with so little in the way of an exciting ethnic cultural background, made me thirst for and welcome diversity.” Perhaps he should check out the components of what seems to be his very complex DNA.

In Boston, London was one of a number of students of Professor Hankus Netsky at the Boston Conservatory of Music who joined Netsky’s Conservatory Klezmer Band. “When I moved back to New York in 1986, I met other people who were interested in playing klezmer music simply because we enjoyed it. We called ourselves the Klezmatics and it’s rather miraculous that we’re still together after 30 years. Their mantra? “We’re building on tradition but creating!” The new CD includes would-ya-believe five brand new Yiddish songs to which they’ve contributed.

London’s been described as a cross between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. He blows the most powerful and versatile horn since The Angel Gabriel. He’s been featured on over 300 CD’s, has played with LL Cool J and Iggy Pop and even on the soundtrack for HBO’s Sex and the City. Working in multiple genres, he’s just completed a Yiddish-Spanish Opera that will be performed in Cuba shortly. And, by the way, he’s been knighted, so if you meet him, remember he’s Sir Frank to you.

London is inspired by the new, young, international, expanding audiences for klezmer music. “None of us ever dreamed we’d end up where we are now, and it’s not the end. We have a lot more to do. I believe if art has integrity, quality and soul, it becomes universal.”

I couldn’t help asking him the question my grandmother would have asked. “From this you can make a living?”

Sir Frank thought for a moment before answering. “As my mother would say, from this you can make a life!”