Page 36 - Jewish News_January-2021

36A January 2021 JEWISH INTEREST

The New Orleans Klezmer All Stars –

a band with a difference! Etz Tamar – Palm Tree

By Arlene Stolnitz
y topic for this month is The that my great-grandparents were from and writhing. and now comes very turing various jazz groups. It is a stroll
New Orleans Klezmer All Seirijai, which in the mid-1800s was handy to me. down Orleans Avenue with the band
MStars band. I heard about this a “tiny shtetl of 1,492 Jews” in Lith- But I have digressed. So now back seated in the back of an iconic New
group from Dr. Stacy Lang, LCSW, of uania. Cheryl discovered that our rela- to the subject of this article, The New Orleans mule-driven carriage while
Venice, Florida. Stacy is Assistant Pro- tives were klezmer musicians. Orleans Klezmer All Stars. The band, playing klezmer music.
fessor of Social Joel Rubin, klezmer clarinetist and which has been around for over 20 This is clearly a group that doesn’t
Work at Florida scholar of Ashkenazi Jewish klezmer years, marries klezmer dance music take itself too seriously. A couple of
Gulf Coast Uni- music, notes that klezmer musicians with legendary New Orleans rhythm, their albums have hilarious names such
versity. She re- were looked upon unfavorably and of- creating a funky and unique sound all as “Mozeltov Cocktail” and “Man-
cently moved to ten were spurned by the community. its own. It’s hard to not get caught up ichalfwitz.” In an interview, Jonathan
the area with her Their interactions with non-Jews made in the feeling! One reviewer describes Freilach said he likes music that has
husband Rabbi other Jews suspicious of them. But be- the group as, “Coming out of the turn seven letters in it. (Klezmer). He says,
Ben Shull, spiri- cause of travel and contact with non- of the century klezmer renaissance, the “Without their audience they would
tual leader of the Jews, klezmer musicians had unique All Stars add a special twist to Jewish just be another bar mitzvah band.”
Jewish Congre- opportunities to interact with wealthy roots music, based deep in the musical More information about klez-mer
Arlene Stolnitz gation of Venice. Polish non-Jews. This was the case traditions of the group’s hometown. music can be found in my earlier ar-
Stacy had posted some comments in our family, and as a result, some of Street parade and Mardi Gras music, ticle entitled, “As my grandmother
on Facebook a while back about The our relatives were exposed to educated Dixieland, traditional and contempo- would say…Klezmer! Oy vey! I can
New Orleans Klezmer All Stars, say- secular non-Jewish families, even be- rary jazz were mixed with traditional hardly believe it!” (The Jewish News,
ing she “had never heard anything coming proficient in other languages. Yiddish tunes… to produce a unique, May 2015)
quite like them before.” She especially Cheryl’s extensive research on our joyous and absolutely glorious sound.” Arlene Stolnitz, founder of the Sara-
recalled a tune called “Not Too Eggy,” family history includes this excerpt of Guitarist Jonathan Freilach, bass- sota Jewish Chorale, is a member of
which was an ode to a band member’s a letter in “YInglish” by Guta Ruchel ist Joe Cabral, drummer Doug Garri- the Jewish Congregation of Venice. A
wife’s chopped liver! I noted that some Trotsky, a daughter of my great-grand- son, saxophonist Ben Ellman and other retired educator from Rochester, New
day, I would find out more about them parents written over 100 years ago. well-known New Orleans musicians, York, she has sung in choral groups
for a future article. I was a Jewis together with accordionist Glenn Hart- for over 25 years and also sings in
All of this got me thinking about girl you know your grandfather ust man, have been called “The Hebrew The Venice Chorale. Her interest in
the reason I have always loved klezmer to write musick for them. where Allman Brothers Band.” One of my the preservation of Jewish music of all
music. Back in the “old country,” my I got to know thath little whath most favorite YouTube videos of them kinds has led to this series of articles
ancestral relatives were klezmer mu- keeps me up with my memory is part of a series of performances on Jewish Folk Music in the Diaspora.
sicians. So it’s probably in my DNA. from my Past when I was a little called Bloody Sunday Sessions fea-
My genealogy expert is my cousin girl and I was singin dancing
Cheryl Lester from Lawrence, Kansas, and playing vilin and Piano 280 kosher characters
Assistant Professor Emerita of Amer- and my Father was so happy to see
ican Studies and English, University me that was takin up the langwich twitter.com/jfedsrq
of Kansas. Her research has shown rushing Polish Jewish in rieding

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