Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – May 12, 2026: Klezmer Tunes and (Mostly) Yiddish Songs

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/75320.html

Theme: Klezmer Tunes and (Mostly) Yiddish Songs.

Klezmer musicians in Ukraine, circa 1925

Schmaltz & Pepper- Stirring the Pot

Schmaltz & Pepper (Schmaltz & Pepper)

Socalled with The Kaiser Quartett- Yiddish Meydl

Di Frosh and other Yiddish Songs (Membran)

Shtreiml- Sirba Amen Sela

Har Meron (I.J. Rosenblatt)

Abby Rosenblatt- Mayn Rue Platz

What’s New Bobenyu (Abigail Rosenblatt)

Jeff Warschauer- A Slow Hora for Those Who Wait for Freedom

The Singing Waltz: Klezmer Guitar & Mandolin (Omega)

Honey Novick- Di Mezinke Oysgegebn

Rising Towards the Seraphim (Honey Novick)

Beyond the Pale- Roumanian Fantasy

Routes (Borealis)

Shelley Posen- Sheyne Punim

Manna (Well Done Music)

Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band- Golem Nights

Sweet Return (Flying Bulgar Recordings)

Daniel Kahn & Jake Shulman-Ment- Yeder Eyner Veys (Everybody Knows)

The Building and Other Songs (Oriente Musik) 

The Klezmatics featuring Janis Siegel- Ich Ken Nit Zogn Vitsn (I Can’t Tell Jokes)

We Were Made for These Times (Shamus)

Roger Davidson & The Frank London Klezmer Orchestra- Dance of the Five Olives

Villages of Old (Soundbrush)

Anne Kalmering & Stahlhammer Klezmer Classic- Dire-Gelt (The Rent)

Tshiribim (Kakafon)

Brave Old World- The Band

Blood Oranges (Red House)

The Klezmer Conservatory Band- Tsatske Kazatske

A Touch of Klez! (Vanguard)

Alice Zawadzki- Karlovke

Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Aviva Chernick & Payadora Tango Ensemble- Silent Tears 

Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango (Six Degrees)

Margot Leverett & The Klezmer Mountain Boys- Zaydn’s Tants

2nd Avenue Square Dance (Traditional Crossroads)

Mark Rubin – Jew of Oklahoma- Berish Katz Breakdown

Dispatches: Songs from a World Gone Mad (Rubinchik)

Theodore Bikel- Yossel der Klezmer

Theodore Bikel Sings Yiddish Theatre & Folk Songs (Elekta)

The Klezmorim- Af Shabes in Vilna

First Recordings 1976-78 (Arhoolie)

Nikitov- A Glezele Yash

Vanderlust (Chamsa)

Metropolitan Klezmer- Metropolitan Raisins

Yiddish for Travelers (Rhythm Media)

Sasha Lurje & Lorin Sklamberg- A idisher kvartet 

Jac Weinstein’s Helsinki Yiddish Cabaret (Global Music Centre)

Michael Winograd- Tipsy

Michael Winograd Plays Tanz! Live in New York City (Borscht Beat)

Isle of Klezbos- Abi Gezunt: Molly’s Cautionary Tale

Yiddish Silver Screen (Rhythm Media)

Next week: Songs and Conversation with Judy Collins.

--Mike Regenstreif

The Other Europeans - Splendor

THE OTHER EUROPEANS

Splendor

Kikiyon

other-europeans-band.eu

(This review is from the April 23, 2012 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)

The Other Europeans are 14 musicians from eight different countries in Europe and North America – eight of whom form a klezmer ensemble and six of whom comprise a lautar ensemble. Lautar is the music of Eastern European Roma (Gypsies). Some of the selections on Splendor, a splendid two-CD set recorded live at the Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany in 2009, feature one or the other of the two ensembles, or parts thereof, while much of the album has all 14 of the musicians playing together.

The Other Europeans project has been spearheaded by pianist and accordionist Alan Bern, perhaps best known for his work as a member of Brave Old World, a band at the forefront of the creation of new Jewish music over the past couple of decades. Other members of the Klezmer Ensemble include clarinet and saxophone player Christian Dawid; Matt Darriau of the Klezmatics on kaval, piccolo, clarinet and saxophone; and Mark Rubin, who started his career as a member of the alt-country duo Bad Livers, on tuba and bass.

Among the members of the Lautar Ensemble are cimbalom player Kalman Balogh; accordionist Petar Ralchev; and trumpeter Adam Stinga.

Historically, as Walter Zev Feldman, mentions in his liner notes, Jewish and Roma musicians had little, if any, interaction in most areas of Eastern Europe except in Greater Hungary, primarily in the 18th century, and in Moldova, particularly in the province of Bessarabia, from the 18th century until the Holocaust. The music also crossed over to North America with Jewish immigrants in the late-19th and early-20th centuries but declined in both America and Moldova by the 1950s – in America due to assimilationist tendencies, and in Moldova due to the Soviet policy of creating a Moldovan ethnic music that was, as Feldman notes, “free from Jewish influence.”

The repertoire which the Other Europeans explore on Splendor – and which they perform brilliantly – is the klezmer and lautar music played in Bessarabia before the Second World War. Whether in the smaller klezmer and lautar groupings, or in the combined forces of the full ensemble, the music is compelling, exciting and beautiful.

Among my favourite selections from the klezmer repertoire are “Khaiterma,” a delightful classic which features Darriau on clarinet bouncing his notes off Rubin’s slap-bass playing; and the two-part “Klezmer Suite #1,” particularly the wild second part.

My favourite lautar selection is the two-part “Lautar Clarinet Suite #1,” which begins with a in a slow, contemplative mode before picking up steam. The piece almost seems classical.

And, of course, the tracks featuring all of the Other Europeans are a constant delight. Among the most beautiful and exciting pieces is the album-ending concert encore of “Sârba de la nord.”

The similarities and contrasts of the Jewish and Roma influences in this music are fascinating. Alan Bern has done a sensational job of tying it all together in the Other Europeans.

I'm now on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

I'm also on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (June 15-June 21)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007 (and around the world via the web for most of those years). Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued for some time as occasional features on CKUT, and is now a blog. Here’s the 42nd instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

June 16, 1994: Extended feature- Rosalie Sorrels.
June 15, 1995: Guests- Dave Clarke & Ellen Shizgal of Steel Rail.
June 20, 1996: Extended feature- Tamarack.
June 19, 1997: Guest- Laura Smith.
June 17, 1999: Guest- Jesse Winchester.
June 21, 2001: Guests- Alan Bern of Brave Old World; Judy Frankel.
June 19, 2003: Guests- Solon & Jeremiah McDade of the McDades.
June 17, 2004: Extended feature- Tribute to the late Ray Charles.
June 15, 2006: Guests- Les Tireux d’Roches.
June 21, 2007: Guest- Clay Eals.

Pictured: Jesse Winchester and Mike Regenstreif at the 2000 Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

--Mike Regenstreif