The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band

A DAY WITH THE FREILACHMAKERS KLEZMER STRING BAND ON LIBRA RADIO: Wednesday, 29. 06.2005
ONE HOUR SHOW WITH THE FREILACHMAKERS
Thursday, 30. 06. 2005 at midnight (Central European Time)

Anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of the capricious, passionate klezmer and gypsy roots music will certainly enjoy The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band. Their two last albums (The Flower of Berezin, And I in the Uttermost West), bustling with uninhibited exuberance and infectious energy i just received from the band's leader Andy Rubin.
It is impossible to ignore the importance of music in Jewish life. One need only look to the Bible to see descriptions of large orchestras and the importance of the Levites as music makers. After the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 C.E. music making in the synagogue was banned by Rabbis and instrumental music survived only by virtue of the fact that merry-making and song were necessary at weddings.
The evocative sound of klezmer music is achieved through the use of the 1st, 4th and 5th modes of the harmonic minorscale. The most distinctively Jewish-sounding use is the 4th mode. This key can be signed by using the key signature of the relative major of the 4th mode tonic and sharping every second and naturalizing every fourth throughout the piece. The dominant instruments in klezmer music are the violin and clarinet. The expressive and emotional klezmer violin intentionally mimics a human voice - sometimes weeping, sometimes laughing .It is extremely hard to stay calm while being attacked by the cascading shrieks and gibbering of the klezmer style clarinet. It just simply opens your heart and forces you to love what you've been doing with your life at this particular moment. This is not rarely articulated as a scream coming out of your mouth!

Andy Rubin (5-string banjo, mandolin, guitar)
Andy founded The Freilachmakers with fiddle player David Kidron (no longer with the band) in 1995. Until that time specializing primarily in American and Celtic folk music, Andy began adapting the "clawhammer" style of 5-string banjoplaying to the klezmer genre. With its incisive and syncopated sound, clawhammer banjo immediately became an integral part of the Freilachmakers approach.

Klezmer music has always been an adapting and evolving process, highly related with the wandering spirit of Yewish communities who have relocated to new cultures. Now Klezmer is undergoing yet another transformation. The Freilachmakers substitute the banjo and mandolin for the clarinet, and add a guitar, cello and accordion. Mixing bluegrass with klezmer is nothing new. Indeed, this mix has been central to the renewed interest and cross-cultural buzz that klezmer has enjoyed over the past decade or so. One of klezmer's most prominent ambassadors, Andy Statman, is arguably equally revered for his poly-rhythmic banjo picking as for his saxophone niggun noodling.


The Freilachmakers - who in the liner notes credit Statman with having introduced them to some of their repertoire - take this mixture to another level, turning it into a concept in itself.
Hailing from the 1849 Gold Rush capitol of Sacramento, California, The Freilachmakers are a self-described "old-timey American string band" that happens to focus on klezmer, so the bluegrass flavors found in its sound are not contrived.
Since releasing The Flower of Berezin in 1998, The Freilachmakers have gone through some changes, returning to a more shtetl-based, "classical" klezmer sound; adding some Israeli and Sephardi influences; acquiring Annette Brodovsky, and deepening the line-up with bassist Lou Ann Weiss learning the cello.
You can buy their music here.

Thank you for the music sent to Libra Radio, Andy!

Today on Libra Radio with Scott Robinson and his music

Today with Neil Jacobs on Libra Radio

Scott Robinson's Gypsophilia and Mandala

I received today two cd's from Scott Robinson's two projects: Gypsophilia and Mandala. We will present his music more closely in our DAY OF THE MUSICIAN on tuesday, 21.st of June 2005 starting at 10.00 Central European Time. During the 24 hours period you'll be able to hear the music from both cd's many, many times. There'll be also a special one hour show with Scott's music projects on wednesday, 23.rd of June at 01.00 CET.
Thank you Scott for supporting Libra Radio by sending the music!

Scott Robinson grew up in Syracuse, New York, where he studied with Brian Israel at Syracuse University. He returned to school after two years, receiving his M.Mus. from SUNY Binghamton and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with Dominick Argento and Judith Zaimont.

Scott has received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania also awarded him an Individual Artist Grant, while the University of Minnesota awarded a grant for his work combining his choral music with Hindu temple dance.

He has published with Thomas House and Moon of Hope Publishing. Scott is a member of the Third Order, Society of St. Francis, a lay religious order in the Episcopal Church, and lives in Philadelphia.



Gypsophilia: "Free Inside"

The music of Gypsophilia is borrowed music, plucked from different cultures and traditions and woven into a unique tapestry. Inspired by both the deep religious history and the culinary delights of the Middle Eastern and Eastern European regions, Scott began collecting recordings and transcribing traditional pieces for the band years ago. In many pieces there is a section of improvisational soloing by one or more players at a time. Under the solos runs a repeated line the rest of the group continues to play, called an ostinato. This method of soloing is called taksim, and allows us to follow the flow of the music wherever it will take us, and guarantees that every performance is unlike the one before it.

Much of our repertoire comes from Greece and Turkey, but there are also Bosnian, Armenian, Romanian and Serbian pieces to be heard as well. The original works that Scott has composed draw from all of these traditions, often mingling English words with Hebrew rhythms and a Turkish chord structure. As a band we are dedicated to demonstrating through our music that while there are many diverse cultures and beliefs on this globe we all inhabit, music is truly a universal language that can soften tensions and break down barriers between people.
Gypsophilia performs on an amazing array of stringed, reed and percussion instruments. In their case the instruments are: concertina, clarinet, violin, dumbek and cello.
Here's the link to streaming video of Gypsophilia on the stage with belly dancer Kittarina.

You can buy Gypsophilia cd's here.





Mandala: "Compassion"

Drawing on a comprehensive musical education and a diverse background in multiple musical styles, the members of Mandala join to bring forth a joyous noise that at once is deeply personal and transcendently universal.

Melodic and rhythmic influences from vastly different cultural and musical traditions are interwoven to form a whole cloth of pure ecstatic praise.
You can purchase this album here.

NEIL JACOBS soul of a Gypsy

I just received this "American Gypsy" CD from a superb 12 string guitar virtuoso Neil Jacobs himself. It fits perfectly into Libra radio music programme and i am proud to announce A DAY OF THE MUSICIAN with Neil Jacobs on Libra Radio starting on monday, 20.th of June 2005 at 10. am Central European time. There will be also a special one hour show with Neil's music at 1. am CET on 21. st of June. Thank you for sending the music to Libra Radio, Neil!
You can buy his music at CD Baby.

This is his story:

Neil Jacobs has had a colourful and unconventional musical career. Touring for mor than 25 years, he has performed in such diverse venues as the refugee camps of Sarajevo, the Kennedy Center for Performing arts and the Kremlin.
Of Irish & Macedonian descent, Neil was raised in Hinckley, Ohio. At a young age he developed an affinity for the guitar and taught himself to play. In the early 80's, Neil's group toured with Spyro Gyra, Alan Holdsworth and Jeff Lorber, appearing with perfomers like Herbie Mann, David Bromberg, Janis Ian, Flora Purim and Livingston Taylor.
His growing fascination with Eastern European folk music drew him back to Europe. As a backpacker equipped with two 12 string guitars on the train in the early stages of the bloody Balkan war, Neil travelled to perform in the countries of what was once known as Yugoslavia.
In 1994-95 Neil was selected as cultural representative to Spain, where he studied the gypsy music of Seville, and escorted by a gypsy guide, he experienced the real gypsy culture in the back-alley clubs.

In 1996 he returned to the war-ravaged Balkans on a bus tour, performing for refugee camps & orphanages troughout Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia. The journey trough the bombed-out countryside was heart-wrenching for the 25 musicians and dancers living in cramped quarters on the extended tour. The purpose of the trip was to lift the spirits of the refugees and orphans by playing the music of their native villages which were all in ruins. At the end of the journey loomed the devastated city of Sarajevo, where the troupe was to perform a concert. In an amazing display of ingenuity, a great stage was erected in a matter of hours, complete with a massive sound system and lights. the tour culminated in an emotional farewell concert with the highly respected American Balkan music and dance ensemble "Zivili". After Sarajevo Neil struck out on his own southward trough Bosnia, this time encountering a dangerously divided country. Returning to the States, he completed his third CD, "American Gypsy", which earned him an Album of the Year nomination by the American Independent Music Awards.



Neil Jacobs is truly a master of the 12-string guitar. With his own style of playing that the St Louis Riverfront Times describes as "mesmerizing" and the Austin Chronicle describes as "the rockin'est since early Leo Kottke". Neil covers a full spectrum of styles and dynamics, touching on music diverse and varied as Gypsy, World, Balkan Folk, Jazz, and Fingerstyle guitar, while maintaining his own refreshing energetic style of playing. A self-taught musician, Neil draws inspiration from his world travels and experiences. His most recent focus includes the Gypsy music of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, which is showcased in his third CD "American Gypsy", in which he draws from his first hand knowledge of Eastern European Gypsy, Balkan and World Folk music to create his riveting compositions.

Angelo Debarre

Angelo Debarre, born in St-Denis, France, started playing guitar at the age of 8. In the manush (gipsy) community, tradition is transmitted orally in family parties and gatherings, where music always occupies a prominent place. Angelo recently confirmed this to Michel Bedin of Jazz Hot magazine1: “In any gathering of three to four hundred caravans there is no shortage of music”.The gipsy jazz musical tradition launched by Django Reinhardt is the heart of this culture and Angelo Debarre quickly became one of its jazz masters. He founded his first group “The Angelo Debarre Quintet” in 1984, and the following year, he began touring the world with gipsy musicians. This is music that he knows inside and out, and at concerts and festivals his enthousiasm and passion prove it. For Angelo Debarre, Django Reinhardt”s music never loses the dynamism and richness of the past : it is everlasting, a living music .

He has also mastered with equal ease the gipsy Music of Eastern Europe, a repertory that he became interested in through his contacts with Serge Camps at La Roue Fleurie, a favorite meeting place of the gypsies in Paris where he played regularly between 1985 and 1987. Another regular at La Roue Fleurie during this period was Jon Larsen 2, who was fascinated by the music he heard there decided to bring Angelo Debarre, Serge Camps and Frank Anastasio together in the recordings studio to produce “Gypsy Guitars”. A recording that would showcase the group’s dynamism and the incredible variety of the gipsy repertory. The album is still essential for every aficionado of the gipsy music of the Eastern European tradition and gipsy jazz.

Vlatko Stefanovski

Vlatko Stefanovski was born in 1957 in Prilep, Macedonia in a theatrical family. He started playing guitar at the age of 13. In his late teens he formed the group LEB I SOL. It became one of the biggest names in the ex-YU music scene. The band played a particular style of fusion music, a blend of Macedonian traditional irregular rhythms and contemporary rock. LEB I SOL released 13 albums, and toured around the world.
Recently Stefanovski has developed a very successful solo career

He is well known for his incredible guitar technique. He creates rich soundscapes with imagination, fluency and ease. His trio have recently played ( from clubs for 1000 to stadiums for 15000 people) in Macedonia, in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Holland, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria etc.
Stefanovski has contacts with many artists, musicians and guitarists all arround the world among which there are masters like Allan Holdsworth and John McLaughlin.
Vlatko Stefanovski lives in Skopje, Macedonia with his family.