Shmaltzy tunes and arrangements, wild improvisation, frantic vocals, culminating in a slow dignified lament. I admit freely that it took getting used to. This is a 19-head band and it plays the carefully detailed, fast paced arrangements with split second precision, with a lot of gusto and bravado. Last year saw the release of two more, Ahiru and Waltz. Both propel Betsuni Nanmo's twist on klezmer into various directions.
Some pieces are in the same zany vein, others push individual qualities further to extremes.
As a musical style klezmer is an outstanding example of culture as an amalgam of influences. A revival of interest in klezmer in the '70s brought it in the limelight, and since then its popularity has only waxed. Numerous bands, Jewish and non-Jewish, were formed to play this music that is both festive and plaintive. Some want to stay close to the traditional melodies, others want to go look further afield too. Of the non-Jewish klezmer bands that I know, Betsuni Nanmo is the most convincing in the way it plays traditionals and in the way it diverges from them.