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The Black Ox Orkestar bring the love, klezmer-style
by MARK SLUTSKY
"It's interesting to be using traditional instruments--a clarinet, double bass and violins--and to actually get a room full of people dancing around to it," says Scott Gilmore, singer and mandolin/violin player for the klezmer band Black Ox Orkestar. The place certainly was shaking at their last show at the Casa del Popolo in October; it was quite a sight, in fact, to see an audience react so readily to what is, essentially, 19th-century Jewish wedding music.
The four members of the Orkestar--the band's impressive lineup includes accomplished local musicians Gilmore (Luftmentshn), Jessica Moss (Fidget, the Geraldine Fibbers), Thierry Amar (godspeed!, Molasses) and Gabe Levine (Sackville)--have been playing together in some form for about six months now. Working from old recordings and sheet music, they've managed to create music at times rousing and danceable, delicate and beautiful.
But these ain't your father's klezmer revivalists. For one, they're adamantly anti-fusion, "modernizing" their sound only minimally with the occasional solo or improvisation. What they're more interested in, according to Gilmore, is "trying to work within the tradition, rather than to grab a few things that seem good and put them into a jazz or classical format." And while elements of Greek or Turkish music might seep into their arrangements, to Levine this is just in line with the history of the form: "In a city like Odessa, these cultures would all be getting together and playing each other's music."
Furthermore, they contend, they distinguish themselves from the more virtuoso-oriented New York-style "avant-klezmer" scene by maintaining what Levine calls "a punk philosophy--that you don't have to be a master musician to make good music." They may claim to be amateurs, but you wouldn't know it from hearing them. Their playing is remarkably skilled. Their comfort with the often-difficult music--and more, their joy in playing it--is immediately evident.
While their methods may seem academic, the result, in its immediacy and sheer delight, is nothing short of alchemical. "For some reason," says Moss, "klezmer is the only place I feel comfortable playing emotionally pure music. I feel like I belong there. And that we, as a foursome, belong there."
With 1-Speed Bike at Casa Del Popolo on Sunday, Dec. 31, 9pm, $8
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