Rhythm & Jews

Klezmatics | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 13, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B000095J3D
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,105 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #87 in Music > Folk > Jewish & Yiddish Music

Editorial Reviews

The Klezmatics play soul-stirring Jewish roots music for our time, recreating klezmer in arrangements and compositions that combine Jewish identity and mysticism with a contemporary zeitgeist and a postmodern aesthetic. Rhythm + Jews, originally released in 1991, reached the top ten of the Billboard magazine World Music chart, the European World Music, and the College Music Journal charts, and was awarded the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars break the boxes, December 26, 2007

By 

David A. Baer (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rhythm & Jews (Audio CD)

Calling all CD file clerks, including the one this reviewer doubles as when he puts away his cds on their shiny little stands (bought cheap at Target and hastily assembled by the reviewer and file clerk): where the *heck* do you file music by the oddball, fast-paced, old-new, traditional-iconoclast, Yiddish-English makers of this hilariously titled albums like this one (RHYTHM + JEWS) and JEWS WITH HORNS?

I'm not sure there's an answer. So put off the filing and download a track or two of this amazing (as in 'love it or hate it') music. This reviewer loves it, or at least wants to register his admiration for the sheer panache of the Klezmatics' offering.

If you're unfamiliar with the tradition, it's probably worth the intent only if you're moderately patient and have a modest ability to link with the Jewish tradition(s) that stand behind this music. But you could probably also go away happy if you're a musical experimenter as a minimum requirement.

Heavy on the clarinet (and it *wails*!) and the updated and tweaked and retweaked sounds of Central European Yiddishkeit, the sound is worked out with equal parts irony and inside jokes. The foot does tap.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars are not enough, October 4, 2001

By 

Kevin B. Cohen (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rhythm & Jews (Audio CD)

I have no idea how many times I've listened to this album--by now, I know much of it by heart. It's one of the best I own, and certainly the best klezmer I've ever heard.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this!, April 1, 2011

By 

Teri Ward (Puget Sound region, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rhythm & Jews (Audio CD)

I love this almost as much as Possessed, which is my favorite Klezmatics CD. "Fun Tashlikh" is a fascinating piece of music I can't stop playing, and "Shnirele Perele" is so beautiful.