The London Klezmer Quartet

Tonight I went to see The London Klezmer Quartet at BEMAC in the Queensland Multicultural Centre at Kangaroo Point. I found this event as I was searching Google for "klezmer" in Brisbane. Klezmer is a musical tradition from the Jewish population of Eastern Europe. What attracted me to this music was the violin (naturally) and the accordion. It was part of the repertoire of The Underscore Orkestra whose performance I attended earlier this month - yes, I have been spoiled for music in January.

The show was in the auditorium, which seats about 200 people. I was lucky enough to sit next to a lady who was at the workshop the night before. She said about 30 people were there and most, if not all, showed up again tonight. In hindsight it was probably good that I did not go to the workshop. Although I don't doubt my enthusiasm, my skills were probably not up to it. Having said that, I am sure Patience and I would have been made welcome. I must say I felt slightly uncomfortable at first. For a long time I was the youngest person in the room and it seemed most of the people knew each other. Later on I saw some younger people.

There was a fair amount of talking and audience interaction as well as audience participation. The four ladies - Ilana (violin), Susi (clarinet), Carol (accordion) and Indra (double bass) - shared the talking duties fairly evening and all of them had plenty of stories and anecdotes to share. There was not a great deal of singing and Indra did most of that. She had a lovely deep voice which really suited the music and it wasn't hurt by her Ukrainian (I believe) heritage. At one point she introduced a song about potatoes. No, I'm not kidding. There is a klezmer song about potatoes.

Another anecdote, and one that would have amused by Christmas-light-crazed son, was of a clarinetist named Naftule Brandwein who formed an orchestra (him, a drummer, and a pianist - a three person orchestra). Apparently this chap would incorporate Christmas lights as part of his outfit and plug them in towards the end of the show. One time he sweated so much that the lights shorted out! They also talked a lot about Dave Tarras who is a modern-day influential klezmer musician.

One of the songs was in 10/11 time. Who comes up with these time signatures and why? The mnemonic for this rhythm is "my grand ma knitted-a jum per". I look forward to learning how to play some of this music if only for the funky time signatures. And if I'm not mistaken, Greek music has add time signatures too.

There was an interval. I wasn't going to go out to the foyer but I'm glad I did. The quartet was out there so I spoke to Ilana and a little to Susi. I even bought Ilana's book - 'Klezmer Fiddle – A How-To Guide'. I don't plan to form a klezmer group any time soon but some of the music is gorgeous and the embellishments are something it won't hurt to learn.

In the second half of the concert was the highlight of the show for me. Indra has been encouraging the rest of the quartet to sing. Tonight they did in one song, and oh my dear Lord... it was amazing. The whole room was captivated, and at the end there was a long quiet pause before a well-deserved round of applause. I don't remember that song on their CDs but it should definitely be on the next one. After the last song there was an encore, and as a tribute to the Australians in the crowd, it contained the chorus of Waltzing Matilda. I am not 100% certain but I believe this is something from one of Susi's other projects - She’koyokh. Regardless, it went down well with the crowd.

And that was the show. I really hope they come back to Australia, and indeed back to Brisbane. On the previous Australian tour they missed Brisbane. Look them up on Spotify or itunes or wherever else you look for music. They are well worth it.