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Monday, May 3rd, 2010
Lag BaOmer: She'Koyokh concert
Monday, May 3rd, 2010 09:28 pmSunday was Lag BaOmer, and thank you precisely nobody for responding to my posting on Facebook asking what people were going to be getting up to Lag BaOmer. Disinclined to go to a Lubavitch bonfire in Hendon where I wouldn't know anyone, I chose to go to a performance, advertised by Moishe House, by klezmer band She'Koyokh outside Willesden Green Library, only to find it had been moved into a local Turkish café because it was cold and threatening to rain outside.
Unusually for a Moishe House event, I was at the young end of the attendees; most of them were my parents' age.
Like, apparently, many klezmer bands nowadays, the band are largely not Jewish, but they proved they could do Jewish meantime, and didn't start playing until half an hour after the advertised start time. This proved rather amusing, as they'd ordered food and then had to abandon it to play, though Paul the accordionist managed to do both at the same time. Meg the violinist said she was going to take their second piece out to eat, but couldn't resist getting back up to join in. After taking their third piece out instead, she took the opportunity of the clarinettist Susi's protracted solo in their next piece to grab a few more bites, whilst Susi demonstrated her impressive proficiency at circular breathing.
Mixed among the Ashkenazi pieces were the odd one from the Balkans, of Sephardi and Romani extraction (though still sounding rather klezmeresque). There weren't many people attending, but those that were there were visibly enthused, with several people dancing and even the waitresses buying copies of their albums. Rachel Rose Reid passed around a basket for donations, and when she got it back, announced loudly that "these people have probably spent a hundred years learning their instruments, and it's rather shameful that there are some 20p pieces in this basket" (amongst the pound coins and banknotes), which proved rather amusing when the guitarist in the band admitted sheepishly it had been him that put the 20ps there.
If you'd like to have a listen to the band yourself, they'll be playing at the Inn on the Green in W10 this Saturday. Or of course, there's always the band's MySpace site.
Unusually for a Moishe House event, I was at the young end of the attendees; most of them were my parents' age.
Like, apparently, many klezmer bands nowadays, the band are largely not Jewish, but they proved they could do Jewish meantime, and didn't start playing until half an hour after the advertised start time. This proved rather amusing, as they'd ordered food and then had to abandon it to play, though Paul the accordionist managed to do both at the same time. Meg the violinist said she was going to take their second piece out to eat, but couldn't resist getting back up to join in. After taking their third piece out instead, she took the opportunity of the clarinettist Susi's protracted solo in their next piece to grab a few more bites, whilst Susi demonstrated her impressive proficiency at circular breathing.
Mixed among the Ashkenazi pieces were the odd one from the Balkans, of Sephardi and Romani extraction (though still sounding rather klezmeresque). There weren't many people attending, but those that were there were visibly enthused, with several people dancing and even the waitresses buying copies of their albums. Rachel Rose Reid passed around a basket for donations, and when she got it back, announced loudly that "these people have probably spent a hundred years learning their instruments, and it's rather shameful that there are some 20p pieces in this basket" (amongst the pound coins and banknotes), which proved rather amusing when the guitarist in the band admitted sheepishly it had been him that put the 20ps there.
If you'd like to have a listen to the band yourself, they'll be playing at the Inn on the Green in W10 this Saturday. Or of course, there's always the band's MySpace site.