Founded in Berlin in 1994, the Joel Rubin Ensemble was the first group dedicated to the performance of the classic eastern European Jewish instrumental klezmer repertoire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It grew out of Rubin’s work with his earlier bands Brave Old World (1989-1992) and Rubin & Horowitz (1992-1994). read more

Founded in Berlin in 1994, the Joel Rubin Ensemble was the first group dedicated to the performance of the classic eastern European Jewish instrumental klezmer repertoire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It grew out of Rubin’s work with his earlier bands Brave Old World (1989-1992) and Rubin & Horowitz (1992-1994).

The ensemble’s music is an expression of Rubin’s long-term meditation on the Russian-Jewish musical legacy. It is not, however, an attempt to recreate 19th century performance practice or otherwise hearken back to the topos of life in the Jewish shtetl; rather, the group brings together some of the world’s great improvising musicians to explore how Jewish music could sound at the beginning of the 21st century – music from another time and place, but thoroughly grounded in the present.

The band creates its own sonic universe, full of depth, virtuosity, playfulness and introspection. The kaleidoscopic soundscape filters the many historical layers of traditional Jewish music through the lenses of the multifarious musical backgrounds of the band’s members, ranging from classical to Gypsy to free jazz to contemporary art music. Here the interaction of a great improvising jazz ensemble melds with the delicacy of a chamber music group and the drive of a hot wedding band at the cusp of klezmer, Roma (Gypsy) and other Eastern European traditions.

Performances have included the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Zürich Tonhalle, Muziekcentrum Vredenburg in Utrecht (Holland), Frankfurter Hof, Burghof Lörrach, Symphony Space and John Zorn’s The Stone in New York City, the Institute of Musical Traditions in DC, the International Klezmer Festival in Fürth, Germany, and the International Festival of Sacred Music in Fribourg, Switzerland. The ensemble’s live national broadcast of its program Beregovski’s Khasene in DeutschlandRadio (Nov. 1996) was one of the most successful concert broadcasts in recent memory, bringing this out-of-time and yet very modern music to a wide audience for the first time.

Line Up:
Joel Rubin (USA) – clarinet
Mark Kovnatskiy (RUS/D) – violin
Claudio Jacomucci (I) – accordion
Kálmán Balogh (H) – cimbalom
Csaba Novák (H) – double bass

Photo: Lloyd Wolf (Joel Rubin), Michael Wüsten (Mark Kovnatskiy)
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Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin) is a pianist, producer, composer, arranger, rapper, singer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist, and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. The subject of “The Socalled Movie”, (a feature documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada) he has been making records and touring the world with his own band and as a “sideman” for over a decade. read more

Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin) is a pianist, producer, composer, arranger, rapper, singer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist, and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. The subject of “The Socalled Movie”, (a feature documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada) he has been making records and touring the world with his own band and as a “sideman” for over a decade.

Socalled was forced to take piano lessons as a young child and won classical piano competitions, but eventually convinced his mother to let him study jazz. As a teen, he played salsa, funk, gospel, and rock, until he started working with rappers and making beats.

After moving to Montreal he started collecting vinyl records in earnest. At Salvation Army stores and in the garbage bins of the city he found “Jewish” records, Hassidic, Israeli, klezmer, Synagogue cantorial music, and music from the Yiddish theater. He mixed these new old sounds from his own history into the sample-based beats he was creating, and started to find his own voice. He began to make more live music, to learn more about klezmer and Eastern European Jewish music, and to sing and rock the accordion.

Socalled completed an EP based on the Passover service, “The Socalled Seder”, which he produced in his apartment and sold through the mail in a world before the Internet. An article about the work in a prominent newspaper led to almost 1000 mail-orders. It was hailed as one of the greatest records of new Jewish Music. His “Hiphopkhasene”, produced for Piranha records with young British violinist Sophie Solomon and featuring some of the most prominent members of the “Klezmer Revival”, won a German grammy for world music album of the year. He started to work with David Krakauer who commissioned him to compose a suite for klezmer clarinet and sampler which debuted at Symphony Space in New York City.

Touring as a special guest with Krakauer’s “Klezmer Madness” band led to an offer from French Jazz label Label Bleu to make his first proper solo record. “Ghettoblaster”, which featured about 40 guests from all walks of musical life, had a
couple of breakout hits, “The Good Old Days” and “You Are Never Alone”, the video of which has been viewed by almost 3 million people on Youtube.

He has performed all over the world including in prestigious halls such as the Olympia in Paris (with pianist Gonzales), the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and even Carnegie Hall – three times.

His list of collaborators knows no generational, social, cultural or religious boundaries. He has played with, featured, recorded and arranged for Gonzales, Fred Wesley, Boban Markovic, the Mighty Sparrow, Lhasa, Roxanne Shante, Irving Fields, Killah Priest, Matisyahu, Theodore Bikel, Enrico Macias, Derrick Carter…

He has lectured and led master classes in music festivals around the world, from
Moscow to Paris, London to LA, Krakow to San Francisco.

Socalled’s new album “Sleepover”, featuring over 30 incredible guests, is the further articulation of a mission to cross boundaries, to mix old and new sounds, acoustic and electric instruments, digital and analog recording techniques, while exploring different cultures and styles, all in the service of creating something catchy, smart, hilarious, emotional, and timeless.

Line Up:
Socalled (MPC, piano, accordeon, vocals)
Katie Moore (vocals)
Michael Winograd (clarinet + iPad sometimes )
Patrice Agbokou (bass)
Jean Sebastien Williams (guitar)

Photo: Richmond Lam

Admission: 19.50 € / 10.50 €
Reservations: support@othermusic.eu
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With Fearless Friday, his 6th album, pianist Omer Klein presents his newest compositions and the new line-up of his trio, with bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo and drummer Amir Bresler. read more

With Fearless Friday, his 6th album, pianist Omer Klein presents his newest compositions and the new line-up of his trio, with bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo and drummer Amir Bresler.

In the beginning of 2014, the Omer Klein Trio changed direction, with drummer Ziv Ravitz replaced by the young Bresler, one of Israel's top new talents.

Throughout the year, Klein introduced the new trio to the international public, playing extensive concert tours. "The three of us clicked from the first moment. I got very inspired to write new music for this band, and explore new directions," says Klein.

The climactic conclusion came at the end of the year, when the three entered Bauer Studios to record their 2015 release, Fearless Friday – the strong and exciting result of a year on the road, and several magical days in the studio.

The album contains nine original compositions by Klein, most of them written especially for this album, and one cover - Duke Ellington's "Azure".

"I feel that we managed to give each song its unique atmosphere and distinct character. And since we toured a lot prior to the recording, our improvisations in the studio came out really fearless and daring. We were listening hard, and embracing mystery and surprise," says Klein.

Line Up
Omer Klein (ISR/D) – piano
Martin Gjakonovski (ISR) - double bass
Amir Bresler (ISR) - drums

www.omerklein.com

Photo: Simon Hegenberg

Admission: 19.50 € / 10.50 €
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In 2006, violinist/improviser Alexey Rozov realized his dream to create an ensemble to perform European and Russian dance music from the first half of the twentieth century: the tango, waltz, foxtrot and other ballroom dances  –  music that had been undeservedly forgotten, now enjoying a comeback. read more

In 2006, violinist/improviser Alexey Rozov realized his dream to create an ensemble to perform European and Russian dance music from the first half of the twentieth century: the tango, waltz, foxtrot and other ballroom dances  –  music that had been undeservedly forgotten, now enjoying a comeback.

The Retro Dance Band preserves and transmits not only the unbridled spirit of these dances but also the atmosphere of the first half of the 20th century; a time when people met to dance as an antidote to the stress of their working day, when people of both sexes discovered each other through steps and patterns of physical contact and movement, with an open heart and mind; when being on earth meant you were destined to go to heaven…

The ensemble performs regularly on the Moscow club scene and wherever people are interested in pre-WWII melodies, tunes that have been around a long time and that continued to be re-discovered – tunes that will live as long as there are musicians to perform them.

Line Up
Sasha Lurie (LV/D) – vocals
Alexey Rozov (RUS) – violin
Mikhail Blinkov (RUS) – clarinet
Andreas Schmitges (D) – guitar
Szilvia Csaranko (H/D) – accordion
Alan Bern (USA/D) – piano
Johannes Keller (D) – double bass

www.retrodanceband.ru

Photo: Yulia Kabakova

Admission: 19.50 € / 10.50 €
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Čači Vorba, means "true speech" in Romani language and is related to Gypsy songs. With a highly-acclaimed performance at the WOMAD Festival 2014 (BBC3), a double-scored Songlines "Top of the World" grade (2010 & 2011) ,"German Record Critics Award" (2010) and the Polish "Folk Fonograme of the Year" (2011), Čači Vorba is one of the most recognized folk/world-music bands to come out of Poland in the past few years. read more

Čači Vorba, means "true speech" in Romani language and is related to Gypsy songs. With a highly-acclaimed performance at the WOMAD Festival 2014 (BBC3), a double-scored Songlines "Top of the World" grade (2010 & 2011) ,"German Record Critics Award" (2010) and the Polish "Folk Fonograme of the Year" (2011), Čači Vorba is one of the most recognized folk/world-music bands to come out of Poland in the past few years.

An original blend of impassionately treated tradition (Gypsy, Carpathian, Balkan) mixed with elements of jazz, rock 'n' roll, a psychedelic-like space and trance produced on traditional acoustic instruments – all of this results in the band's refreshing approach to Gypsy music. It's far from the beaten paths of brass bands, Balkan-beat or a lumpy stylization. 

Now in its ninth year, and with more than 350 gigs played in 19 countries, Čači Vorba has also a story. At the early age of 15, the band's charismatic singer and virtuoso violin player Maria Natanson ran off to the Carpathian mountains in search of living village music. There she met and lived with Roma musicians, learned their songs and the language and soaked up their musical sensitivity. Now, aged 28, she is considered one of most outstanding female voices of the Polish world-music scene, moving easily between various types of Eastern European singing and being one of very few gadji (non-Gypsy) artists to create original lyrics in the Romani language.

Line Up
Marija Natanson – vocals, violine, kemence
Paweł Sójka – accordion
Piotr Majczyna – guitar, bouzouki, mandola, vocals
Sebastian Szebesta – cajon, darbuka, riqq, daf
Robert Brzozowski – double bass

www.cacivorba.pl/en/

Photo: K. Werema back

At the final concert of Yiddish Summer Weimar, the Vienna Jewish Choir will present its best songs from the past 25 years in its usual rousing style. In addition, there will be a number of new compositions by Roman Grinberg. read more

At the final concert of Yiddish Summer Weimar, the Vienna Jewish Choir will present its best songs from the past 25 years in its usual rousing style. In addition, there will be a number of new compositions by Roman Grinberg.
The choir will demonstrate the wide range of its repertoire: from Yiddish songs and Chassidic nigunim to Hebrew popular songs, and from hits of the Jewish theater to liturgical singing and new compositions.

And because everything in Vienna is about the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest (it’s the host city), the Vienna Jewish Choir will commemorate Israel’s 1979 success and sing its own version of Hallelujah!

Line Up
Vienna Jewish Choir under the direction of Roman Grinberg

www.wjchor.at
www.facebook.at/wjchor

Photo: Vienna Jewish Choir back