Saturday night we caught the Klezmatics at the gorgeous Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin. I feel about klezmer a little bit like I feel about Celtic and Cajun music: it's a tradition that I find initially attractive, but that I don't quite understand well enough to enjoy past the point where the pieces start to sound the same. I think I'm not alone in that feeling, and that's part of what drives traditional music to embrace fusion with other genres (jazz or rock & roll or what have you). I myself am a sucker for ironic kitchen-sink folk fusionists like 3 Mustaphas 3 and Brave Combo.
But I needn't have worried about the Klezmatics being watered down, despite their eclectic resumes. Maybe it was because of the presumably-mostly-Jewish audience, but their set went straight into cultural references that were over the head of this gentile. (I did gather that it's funny when the part of Esther in a Purim song is sung by a bass.) But their chops and texturally rich arrangements made it all understandable. There were other connections, too: the love song about the medieval Hebrew teacher wooing his student with the Song of Solomon made me think that a couple of hundred generations of Sanskrit teachers must have done the same thing with Indian texts.
Speaking of "over my head", I dutifully put on the yarmulke provided when I went into the sanctuary but then was surprised to see lots of uncovered heads, even those of the band members. I'm not sure why so many people felt free to flout that rule, but that's okay -- I've been the only guy in a salwaar kamiz at Indian gatherings, too.
The opening act was Rubinchik's Yiddische Ensemble. Mark Rubin's group is a fine outfit, now featuring our pal Alex Marcus on violin, but the Klezmatics were a tough act to precede.
Alex and Mark have also got a new western swing project, the Ridgetop Syncopators. I haven't heard them yet, but I'm told they're a group to watch out for. She describes their Wednesday night gig at the Parlor like a sparring session at a neighborhood boxing gym, with old fighters dropping by to check out the upstart competition. Hmm. Now that Mark Rubin is playing banjo, do you suppose Danny Barnes has taken up the tuba? :-)
In other music notes, I picked up Grupo Fantasma's new self-titled CD the other day. I dig that cumbia-based sound -- it grabs me in places where salsa and other more technically polished styles don't. The CD fell a little short in the production department, as so many local Austin CDs do, but I can't wait to hear them live.
Another bargain-bin find is a fine promo compilation from Hamburg label l'age d'or. It's hard to find pop music from Germany that's neither techno nor rap, but l'age d'or is keeping alive something more like the sounds I imprinted on during the Neue Deutsche Welle period of my youth. The big standout for me is the group Fink, whose hillbilly acoustic cover of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" is a revelation. (Can a ukulele version be far behind?)
Finally, speaking of genref**king Germans, I've been hearing such good things about Señor Coconut that I picked up his Gran Baile con Señor Coconut. It was the wrong choice; to my ears it's just techno. El Baile Alemán is the one I wanted: Latin covers of Kraftwerk songs and that broad, broad humor that I never outgrow. Good thing about Waterloo's merciful returns policy.