Klezmer Rhapsody
By yankele
Jacob Gershowitz, better known as Georges Gershwin, drew from his cultural heritage, passed on by a Russian Jewish family that took the westward road to flee the pogroms of the late 19thcentury. A Yiddish theatre enthusiast also versed in Klezmer music, as well as a great connoisseur of American folk music and a fervent admirer of classical modernism, Gershwin wonderfully achieved the fusion of all these genres. The five members of Yankele hail from jazz, classical and traditional music. For these musicians, it soon became an obvious evidence to revisit Gershwin’s repertoire via original works, arrangements and improvisations, hand in hand with the composer Jean-Marie Machado. So now an Eastern wind is blowing on Gershwin’s repertoire. At the same time playful and melancholy, this virtuoso Klezmer rendition echoes the work of a man who was instrumental in the development of today’s American cultural identity.