To the Tavern

The expert players of the London Klezmer Quartet here weave their skills together to create another carefully crafted sonic offering, taking the listener on a trip though the highs and lows of Yiddish tradition. As is so often present in klezmer, joy is close to sorrow and vice versa; the wistfulness of the first song, ‘Feygele’, is countered by the celebratory mood of ‘A Gleyzele Jaš’, while another song is devoted entirely to the especially emotive subject of beetroot soup.

Most of the tracks are purely instrumental and there are some great original takes on traditional dances such as waltzes and bulgars, executed by the classic line-up of fiddle, clarinet, accordion and double bass. Overall the sound is reticent and understated, balanced against Indra Buraczewska's gutsy vocals. There is a concept for this album: that of a band of klezmorim arriving at dawn in a mid-European town for a 24-hour sojourn, meeting locals and eventually leading a rowdy session at the local tavern. This narrative can be ascertained by the music, but is not made abundantly clear in the liner notes, so it remains a subtle thread behind an otherwise fantastic collection of nostalgic musical reveries.