Klezmer Juice
venice, California, United States
Music
Press
Klezmer Juice is the real thing - vibrant Yiddish soul combined with youth and musical style. Bringing together some of LA's finest musicians from all walks of life, Bulgach has managed to forge a new klezmer sound with one ear to tradition and the other locked on the now.
Aaron Paley, Founder and Co-Chair Yiddishkayt Los Angeles
- Aaron Paley... YIDDISHKAYT LA
When a band’s first CD name checks Giora Feidman and Vincius de Moraes, it’s hard to know what to expect. The faintly Brazilian flavor of the band’s sound with its underpinning of accordion and nylon-string guitar obviously derives from Vincius, and the rather mechanical rhythms of “Ot Azoi� and “Papirosn� are certainly reminiscent of Feidman, but Bulgach’s clarinet is much more expressive than his hero’s. He’s not afraid to play dirty gutbucket growls that would never come out of Feidman’s horn and as the set goes on, the rhythm section begins to cook too. Rating: 4 Stars - George Robinson... The Jewish Week (NYC)
I really have problems with bands that (to my ears) overly emphasize the beat. I think of dancing as gliding, or moving in rhythm, not going "chunka chunka thumpa thumpa." On the other hand, this album really sparkles (and 20 million country music albums can't all be wrong about the rhythm thang.) I love Bulgach's clarinet playing, nor are the accordion or guitar shabby, neither.
The opening "Ot Azoi" swings, despite the thumpa thumpa. Bulgach swings lyrically into "Papirosen" and then rips into a freylach more smoothly than anyone I've heard since the Epstein Brothers moved to a higher venue. If not for the rhythm section, I'd be in heaven. It's only during changes when the rhythm section feels like it's playing with the band, not reading charts. And yet, even so, I wouldn't miss this for the world. This band is fun.
The mix is familiar: lots of Klezmer, old Yiddish theatre and folk favorites like "Papirosn" or "Dona Dona" and "Tum Balalaika", with more modern Israeli dance and folk tunes ("Nigun Atik", Eli Eli).
Even though the clarinet playing overwhelms, this isn't your Krakauer ego pyrotechnics. Rather, Bulgach really seems to get the songs and how to play for an audience. This is the warmest, friendliest, liquid clarinet playing I have heard in a long time. When the guitar takes the lead, as on the intro to "Oyfn Pripetshok", with the accordion picking up the next verse it is also clear that the rest of the band is equally facile. I should also mention the rather fantastic cover, and remember to complain about a lack of song credits. Overall, this is a wonderful debut album, and one that I'll enjoy listening to for a long time. Highly recommended.
- Ari Davidow... Klezmershack.com
Hi, Gustavo ... Not only did I receive your CD yesterday, I played two tracks from it on today's show. You guys are FANTASTIC!! Great music that add a fresh new sound to the Philly Airwaves.Thanks for the music. I really appreciate it!
- Barry Reisman, Program Host WNWR AM 1540.
Klezmer Juice is one of the best News in the Klezmer music scene of today. - Pablo Plotkin... Rolling Stone Magazine
A wonderful album from a gifted musician.Gustavo brings expressiveness, energy and major improvisational chops to his interpretations of some classic Klezmer pieces - and in doing so, he goes back to the earliest roots of the Klezmorim - the travelling Jewish musicians who went across every country in Europe - and who often intermingled and played with their musical cousins the Gypsies. In the opening piece, Ot Azoi, Gustavo cleverly has his rhythm section give an underlying syncopated swing to the piece which is part traditional Cajun, part Calypso - and totally wonderful. Later, in Zemer Atik, he explores the middle eastern roots of Klezmer music - and shows why, musically speaking, Jew, Arab and Gentile are really brothers. I could go on and on but at a certain point words lose their precision - and the important thing is: this music ROCKS. 21st Century Klezmer soul with some syncopated gypsy swing - what a combination! A fine addition to anyone's CD collection - whether you are a hardcore Klezmer Music maniac (like yours truly) - or merely someone who loves wonderful eclectic world music. Bravo, Gustavo! - Miguel ATF.
Discography
Actions Speak Louder than Words (2004)
Wedding crasher's Movie Sountrack (2005)
Klezmer Juice Tribute to Matisyahu (2006)
Jewfro (2008)
Photos
Bio
While the term klezmer, Yiddish for professional folk musician, can be traced back centuries into the Old World, most of Klezmer music as we know it owes its sound to the various 19th-century Eastern European musical forms brought to the New World by Jewish immigrants around the turn of the century. These Ashkenazi were a diverse group that had for centuries lived amidst and interacted with numerous other European cultures. Their music reflected this diversity, encompassing traditional music styles from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia among others.
While many of us associate this music with European immigration to the United States, Jews at the turn of the century were settling all parts of the Americas, and they and their decendents have a rich history in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and many other Latin American countries. Klezmer Juice bandleader and clarinet player Gustavo Bulgach was born and raised in one such community in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A part of the large and active Jewish community there, he learned Klezmer music from his family at a young age. Inspired by the religious and secular life of the Argentine community, Bulgach, who now lives in Los Angeles, has traveled around the globe, finding that Klezmer music is the "soundtrack of the Diaspora".
In 2005 the band played The Wedding Crashers, a New Line Cinema's comedy starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Christopher Walken released on July, 2005. The movie includes a unique rendition of the Hava Nagila featuring the band along with Owen and Vince� According to Billboard Magazine, this new version, especially arrange by Bulgach for the movie, will become the next standard song in every single party worldwide!
In July, the Hollywood Bowl's Summer Sounds Program booked Klezmer Juice to participate in a week series at the bowl to teach and entertain the audience playing and teaching the roots and evolution of the Klezmer Music. The event was immediately sold out!
In 2007 Klezmer Juice teamed up with Argentinean Diva DIVINA GLORIA to put together a show called UNA NOCHE YIDISHE a Latin Yiddish experience featuring Yiddish Tangos and a mix of Klezmer and Latin Music. The show is currently on tour In America.
Our First CD ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS� got licensed by ARC MUSIC INTERNATIONAL for global distribution.
Band Members
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