COMPOSERS: Yale Strom
LABELS: Narada World
WORKS: Café Jew Zoo
PERFORMER: Yale Strom, with Hot Pstromi & Klazzj
CATALOGUE NO: 76026-2
Klezmer is one of the original wanderers’ musics, a fusion of Jewish memories and local influences with a different flavour in different places of settlement, though usually the central European content dominates. YALE STROM, a US-based violinist and bandleader, engagingly points out that Abraham came from Ur, not the Ukraine.
He has pointedly strengthened the Middle Eastern character of his band’s repertoire, though it has to be said that this remains a secondary feature as the doleful melodies and upbeat dances dip in and out of Romania, Macedonia and Russia.