Raysn: The Music of Jewish Belarus

This New York-based band are exploring the Jewish music of Belarus and its surrounds. The Jewish culture of the region was immortalised in the early paintings of Marc Chagall, but hasn’t been widely researched, which is why this album is so welcome. The band take their name from the Litvak Jews, which is how the Jews of Lithuania were known. Bandleader Dmitri Zisl Slepovitch sings Yiddish vocals, plays idiomatic clarinet and emigrated from Belarus to New York in 2008. He's conducted valuable research into historic collections, more recent material gathered by musicologists Inna Nazina (from Belarus) and Andrzej Bieńkowski (Poland) and Byelorussian folk music. Many pieces here have a simple drone accompaniment – as in the atmospheric opening track ‘Freylekhs and Kolomeyke’.

But, however deep the research, a project like this only works if the musicianship is good, which it is. Litvakus have a five-piece acoustic line-up with clarinets, fiddle, accordion, double bass and folk drum. The repertoire ranges from dance tunes and songs to Hasidic spiritual pieces and even a couple of tunes composed on the New York subway, taking the Q train between Brooklyn and Manhattan. An extremely welcome arrival on the Jewish music scene.