pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

OK, I love Jewish music. I didn’t know I loved it until early 2006, when I got into John Zorn’s Masada, a great mixture of composed, yet improvisationally free jazz, grounded in Jewish melodies.

(Dave Douglas & John Zorn of Masada, photo courtesy of volume12)

Masada led to discovering many more great Jewish, Klezmer, and Slavic/Balkan music artists on John Zorn’s Tzadik label (and other labels):
……Electric Masada / Masada String Trio / Bar Kokhba Sextet (splinter bands from the Masada Book), Steven Bernstein (of Sex Mob), Jon Madof’s Rashanim & CircuitBreaker, Bester Quartet (formerly the Cracow Klezmer Band), Daniel Zamir & Satlah, David Buchbinder’s Jewban (or Cubish) cultural mash-up Odessa/Havana (and the similar mashups from Irving Fields and Roberto Rodriguez), David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness, Jamie Saft, So Called, Balkan Beat Box, Slavic Soul Party!, Davka, Eyol Moaz, Jennifer Charles & Oren Bloedow’s La Mar Enfortuna (both from Elysian Fields), Koby Israelite, Marc Ribot’s Jewish music, Paul Brody’s Sadawi, Talat, Yoshie Fruchter, Z’ev, Zakarya, Klez-Factor, the Tiptons Saxophone Quartet, the Lithuanian Empire, the Alexandria Kleztet, Alex Kontorovich, et cetera…

Anyway, after I got into more John Zorn, I also got into more jazz and more Jewish music.  There are many cross-overs between the two worlds (jazz and klezmer).  Around that time, I was also getting into podcasts… and the only podcast that focused on klezmer music (that wasn’t always heavy on the vocals) was/is Keith Wolzinger’s Klezmer Podcast.

Recently, Klezmer Podcast #38 (from 9/3/08) focused on French record label, Jumu Music… and then had some clips from the Anakronic Electro Orkestra.

Wow… Anakronic Electro Orkestra is really fresh Jewish music, with a fun rock-meets-klezmer feel – – complete with accordion & clarinet.  They don’t have an album out yet, but they’re hoping to have an EP out later in 2008 and a full-length in 2009.  Check out some of their music on the MySpaces (“Why Is It Funny” is my favorite):

• http://www.myspace.com/anakronicelectroorkestra
• http://www.myspace.com/jumumusic
• http://www.myspace.com/anakronic
• http://www.anakronic.com/

~Dan – np: George Carlin – It’s Bad For Ya