This blog post will be a little bit different than the ones I’ve done in the past. I usually write about my opinion on songs I’ve played and their structure. But today, I’m going to tell you about an festival that occurred a little while ago in Asheville. Every year on October 18, Downtown Asheville has its annual HardLox: Asheville’s Jewish Food and Heritage Festival. Although I’m not Jewish myself, it was great to go out and experience a completely different culture. Along with the great foods, activities and trinkets, they also had amazing music. At the festival they played a genre of music called Klezmer, a form of “Yiddish” dance music, sometimes called Freilech music, used in many Jewish celebrations and events.
It’s a very unique genre of music that is easily identified by its characteristics of expressive melodies, reminiscence of the human voice, laughing, sometimes weeping, and its use of the violin. Six groups performed at the festival and while I was there I got to see a performance by the Jewish band, Tennessee Schmaltz.
The group is well known for combining lively, traditional klezmer music with southern Appalachian and jazz. The group played more than a dozen songs, but one of my favorite would have to be a piece called Shloymke and Nifty, an old time Yiddish dance song. I loved the songs ecstatic energy and complimentary use of the violin,clarinet, drums, bass and vocals. They all share the spotlight throughout the song and compliment each other well, but it’s mostly the violin and clarinet that take the melody. This song like the others maintains a steady, jolly tempo keeping the listener engaged and dancing.
The music, the food, and the activities was all a part of the great experience that is HardLox. It’s a great way to capitalize on the Jewish population in Asheville and allows others to learn about Jewish life and culture. It was a fun experience and one I’ll remember for a long time.
It’s a very unique genre of music that is easily identified by its characteristics of expressive melodies, reminiscence of the human voice, laughing, sometimes weeping, and its use of the violin. Six groups performed at the festival and while I was there I got to see a performance by the Jewish band, Tennessee Schmaltz.
The group is well known for combining lively, traditional klezmer music with southern Appalachian and jazz. The group played more than a dozen songs, but one of my favorite would have to be a piece called Shloymke and Nifty, an old time Yiddish dance song. I loved the songs ecstatic energy and complimentary use of the violin,clarinet, drums, bass and vocals. They all share the spotlight throughout the song and compliment each other well, but it’s mostly the violin and clarinet that take the melody. This song like the others maintains a steady, jolly tempo keeping the listener engaged and dancing.
The music, the food, and the activities was all a part of the great experience that is HardLox. It’s a great way to capitalize on the Jewish population in Asheville and allows others to learn about Jewish life and culture. It was a fun experience and one I’ll remember for a long time.