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![]() The Wholesale Klezmer Band has, since 1982, performed both in the traditional context of providing music and dance leadership for Jewish weddings and other simkhes, on the concert stage, and at school and college educational programs. Credits include performances and workshops at the Conference on Judaism in Rural New England, Conference for the Advancement of Jewish Education, the New England Festival of Folk Arts (NEFFA), a Celebration of Folk Music for the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall hosted by Pete Seeger, and at the Inauguration of President Clinton. Their repertoire includes music for dance, traditional Yiddish folk songs, and Yiddish theater and vaudeville songs, including original compositions. The Wholesale Klezmer Band consists of Yosl (Joe) Kurland, (vocals and fiddle), Christina Crowder (accordion), Michael Suter (bass viol), Brian Bender (trombone), and Peggy Davis (flute & vocals), Joanna Morse (fiddle), and Aaron Bousel (accordion). We also honor Sherry Mayrent who was our long-time clarinetist and music director, and David Tasgal z"l (clarinet, fiddle). The Wholesale Klezmer Band performs in Yiddish and Loshn Koydesh, (Ashkenazic Hebrew), and they specialize in making it accessible to the English speaking world with translations, stories, explanations, visual aids, and that universal language that speaks to your feet and makes them want to dance. They write many of their own dance tunes and Yiddish songs that speak to contemporary concerns. The Wholesale Klezmer Band performs music for both Jewish and general audiences that expresses Jewish values of justice and peace. By introducing Jewish music and culture to young audiences of diverse ethnic groups, religions and races they work to foster intercultural understanding. For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or email us at wkb@ganeydn.com
Educational Programs(see also: Workshops)The Wholesale Klezmer Band and its members offers educational programs, concerts and dances for elementary schools, junior high and high schools, colleges and adult education. Program topics include:
"This performance fascinated our population that is usually very hard to please. Our students enjoyed the unfamiliar sounds and the exposure to a culture so different from their own. It was a pleasure to see the spark that was going over from Joe to the audience." Gunter Nagels, teacher, Holyoke, Massachusetts Please have a look at letters of reference from Mary Ann Clarkson, Principal of Erving, Massachusetts elementary school, and Alice Grunfeld, Executive Director of Kamp Kinderland in Tolland, Massachusetts. For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or email us at wkb@ganeydn.com What they say about Wholesale:
"Music to bridge the gulf of war" Amherst Bulletin "An unforgettable evening of comedy and drama and joy and sorrow" Dee Sarno, Saratoga County Arts Council "Wonderfully entertaining and moving" Jewish Weekly News of Western Massachusetts "The universality of what you do makes this somewhat esoteric art accessible to people from totally divergent backgrounds" Joan Epro, Dean's office, Franklin Pierce College "Their upbeat, danceable, festive-like music made it hard for me to sit still" The North Adams State College Beacon "An evening that was a gift of love and spiritual blessing. You helped to transform strangers into a dancing family" Magdalena Gomez, Hadley, Ma Other references from wedding and bar/bas mitzve customers as well as presenters available on our wedding page, our reference page, and by request. For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or email us at wkb@ganeydn.com While you're calling, ask for information about an art show or workshops on Jewish art and manuscripts by band member and calligrapher, Peggy H. Davis. |
![]() But it wasn't until he turned 40 that Yosl learned to speak Yiddish. "To me, Yiddish offers a way of expressing things with a unique tying together of the earthy and the heavenly," he says. " A single Yiddish word in a story or song can paint a whole picture within a picture because of the layers of meanings attached to it." Yosl writes his own songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and English, such as an intimate prayer needling God about human injustice, or a story bringing torah personages into modern times to work out their conflicts. "It's an intensely powerful mode of expression because of the associations people make with the original stories and the new interpretations." He also sings for High Holiday and Shabbos services in the style of the Eastern European ba'aley-tefile, prints ketubot designed by band member Peggy Davis as well as his own photographic art, and has taught Yiddish language at the National Yiddish Book Center and at various conferences, and has taught in the children's program at the annual "Klez Kamp" Yiddish folk arts program. Two of his songs were selected in the 2008 aand 2010 competitions for New Jewish Liturgical Music held by the Shalshelet Foundation. ?? |
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Christina also plays old-time music on banjo and fiddle and travels to various fiddlers conventions and gatherings in New England and West Virginia. She finds a strong connection between the Appalachian and Klezmer traditions: “I find that playing traditional music – of any kind – is a unique way to connect to history. At a dance or a party, you can really feel yourself connected to essentially the same scene, maybe fifty, a hundred, even 150 years ago. I really enjoy trying to capture the essence of tune, as passed on to me through the musicians or recordings I’ve learned it from, and then convey that spirit to dancers or an audience”. See also the description of Christina on the KlezmerQuerque website. |
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For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or email us at wkb@ganeydn.com
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This website has been written and designed by Joe Kurland with graphic elements created by Peggy Davis and Joe Kurland. We welcome your comments on the contents and design of the site. Joe and Peggy are available to design your web page too. Please address inquiries and comments to the webmaster.