Seth Austen and Beverly Woods

Klezmer

Klezmer is the traditional folk and dance music of 19th century Ashkenazi (eastern European) Jews of the "Pale of Settlement", a region encompassing many small countries that were mostly under the Russian rule during that time. Klezmer music, which was played at weddings and other celebrations of Jewish life, came over to America with the immigrants of the early 20th century, and underwent many transformations, both of style and instrumentation.

Although much of modern day klezmer music tends to be more oriented around wind and brass instruments, the music of 19th century eastern European Jews was largely string based. Violins and tsimbl, an Eastern-European hammered dulcimer, were integral voices of this music. Other quieter instruments, such as mandolin, were often played around the house.


Seth and Beverly revive the tradition of these plucked, bowed and hammered string instruments, creating a range of textures from meditative to a lively, old world klezmer sound. Our core ensemble members are:

• Seth Austen on violin, mandolin, mandola, and guitar
• Beverly Woods on tsimbl (eastern-European hammered dulcimer), piano, accordion, mandocello and hurdy-gurdy
• Jon Goodwin on clarinet

Other performers who have joined us from time to time include:

• Jim Dalton on mandolin, mandocello, balalaika, and tenor banjo
• Carey Bluhm on trumpet and violin
• Sam Moffatt on middle-eastern percussion instruments including dumbek, riq, bendir and chromatic button accordion
• Eric Mumpower on bass clarinet and clarinet

If desired we can also play a variety of eastern-European folk styles including Balkan, Hungarian, Greek, Nordic and Breton, often for international folk and circle dancing.

We are available to play for weddings, bar and bas mitzvahs, simkes (celebrations of any sort) and concerts. For a little preview of klezmer music, click the below links.

Fiselekh; traditional klezmer melody played by Seth and Beverly on mandola and hammered dulcimer. - realaudio - mp3 (2.8 MB file size)

Khusidl #7 from Kostakowski Collection; played by Dena, Seth and Beverly on clarinet, fiddle and tsimbl - realaudio - mp3 (2.9 MB file size)

Gelebt und Gelakht; played by Dena, Seth and Beverly on clarinet, mandola and tsimbl - realaudio - mp3 (2.3 MB file size)

Hangus From Polodoy; played by Seth, Beverly, Jim and Sam on fiddle, accordion, mandolin, percussion- realaudio