Modern Klezmer at Simchat Torah

Modern Klezmer kept the horns & added electric guitar and synthesized drumd / @ DAVider 2015

Klezmer music is not what it use to be. At it's roots in eastern Europe, a small band of musicians playing "Klei Zemer" (literally in Hebrew & Yiddish "Musical Instruments"), shortened to 'Klezmer', was comparatively tame to today's rocking new-age style electrified hard beat version. Then it was eastern European folk music adapted to a small group of roving musicians bringing dance music to small community, shtetl events (holidays, weddings, bar-mitzvahs).  The clarinet is still here, front and center, kept for a traditional sound, but losing it's solo leading role. What is new is a heavy synthesized drums, electronic keyboards and a prominent electric guitar beat. Jewish Orthodox events in Israel are often accompanied by a loud rocking group of musicians. The melodies are new, pushed by heavy drum beat and guitar-keyboard combination, closer to mainstream rock than to anything coming out of 1880s eastern Europe. Find your favorite rock-pop-Jewish-Orthodox music on YouTube and comment below.