Klezmer

Klezmer
Stylistic origins	Developed in Southeastern Europe, influenced mostly by Romanian music (predominantly from Moldavia, particularly Bessarabia and the Romanian part of Bucovina); Greek, Ukrainian, Polish, Hungarian Romani, and Turkish music influences are also present
Cultural origins	Jewish celebrations, especially weddings, in Eastern Europe
Typical instruments	Violin, cymbalom, clarinet, accordion, trombone, trumpet, piano, double bass
Regional scenes
Germany — Israel — United States
Other topics
KlezKamp — Klezmer-loshn — KlezKanada

Klezmer (Yiddish: כליזמר or קלעזמער (klezmer), pl.: כליזמרים (klezmorim) — instruments of music) is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations. In the United States the genre evolved considerably as Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, who arrived between 1880 and 1924, met and assimilated American jazz. During the initial years after the klezmer revival of the 1970s, the American sub-variety was what most people knew as klezmer, although in the 21st century musicians began paying more attention to the "original" pre-jazz traditions as revivalists including Josh Horowitz, Yale Strom, and Bob Cohen have spent years doing field research in Eastern/Central Europe. Additionally, later immigrants from the Soviet Union - such as German Goldenshtayn - took their surviving repertoires to the United States and Israel in the 1980s.

Compared with most other European folk-music styles, little is known about the history of klezmer music, and much of what is said about it remains conjectural.

The term klezmer comes from a combination of Hebrew words: kli, meaning "tool, or utensil" and zemer, meaning "to make music"; leading to k'li zemer כְּלִי זֶמֶר, literally "vessels of song" = "musical instrument".

Originally, klezmer referred to musical instruments, and was later extended to refer, as a pejorative, to musicians themselves. From the 16th to 18th centuries, it replaced older terms such as leyts (clown). It was not until the late 20th century that the word came to identify a musical genre. Early 20th century recordings and writings most often refer to the style as "Yiddish" music, although it is also sometimes called Freilech music (Yiddish, literally "Happy music"). The first recordings to use the term "klezmer" to refer to the music were The Klezmorim's East Side Wedding and Streets of Gold in 1977/78, followed by Andy Statman and Zev Feldman's Jewish Klezmer Music in 1979.

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