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| From humble beginnings comes an event with world-class performers By Natana Deutsch DS Editor Bring on the Klez. Riding the wave of a worldwide Klezmer music revival, Albuquerque welcomes its first Klezmer music festival, Feb. 28 through March 2. “Klezmerquerque 2003,” sponsored by Congregation Nahalat Shalom, the Nahalat Shalom Community Klezmer Band and individual donors, will feature three days of workshops, jam sessions and music and dance with world-renowned performers. It’s a dream that has been a long time coming. “We’ve been talking about it for several years, about bringing in the Klezmatics or Brave New World,” said event organizer Beth Cohen. The cost of such an event, however, was prohibitive, so Cohen looked at what other communities were doing -- namely, bringing in a few big-name performers -- and followed their lead. “We have three of the top (klezmer) musicians in the world (in Stu Brotman, Josh Horowitz and Cookie Segelstein),” said Cohen. “They’re all scholars.” Erik Bendix, an internationally known folk dancer, will be making his fourth trip to Albuquerque to help lead the dancing at Klezmerquerque. The Community Klezband and The Rebbe’s Orkestra will also perform. A couple hundred people are expected to participate, Cohen said, with some making the trip from neighboring states like Colorado or Texas. Having that many people come together to celebrate Klezmer music is something that itself should be celebrated, Cohen notes. She can remember a time when she was one of a select few who even knew what it was. “I was always going to bluegrass jams, and we’d be going around the circle (choosing a song to play) and I would always pick Klezmer music,” said Cohen. “I was always playing the ‘weird’ music.” The music teacher, performer and cantorial soloist for Nahalat Shalom has much company today, however. The Klez music movement began in the 1970s, with musicians like Stu Brotman, “the grandfather of Klezmer,” Cohen said. It has gained momentum over the last two decades, she said, adding that now there are Klezmer fests all over the world. Even Albuquerque, with its small Jewish community, has made strides in its traditional world music scene, Cohen said. Budowitz performed here two years ago at the Outpost performance space, and this past summer Horowitz and Segelstein taught at Albuquerque Academy's Klezcamp. “The folk music scene has really grown and thrived,” Cohen said. For more information about Klezmerquerque 2003, call 343-8227 or visit www.nahalatshalom.org. | |||||||||
