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Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Surprising Finds by Metropolitan Klezmer
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fave it Eastern European | Judaica
20 tracks | 62 minutes
Released May 2003
on Rhythm Media Records
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for a 30-second preview. All tracks are 192kbps high fidelity sound quality. Protected WMA $0.77 or unprotected MP3 $0.88.
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:13 Uncle Moses' Wedding Dance lyrics BUY MP3 02:13 Uncle Moses' Wedding Dance lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:13 Uncle Moses' Wedding Dance
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:52 Terkisher Navratilova lyrics BUY MP3 04:52 Terkisher Navratilova lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:52 Terkisher Navratilova
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:07 Ot Azoy Neyt a Shnayder lyrics BUY MP3 04:07 Ot Azoy Neyt a Shnayder lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:07 Ot Azoy Neyt a Shnayder
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:35 Pick a Pocket or Two lyrics BUY MP3 02:35 Pick a Pocket or Two lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:35 Pick a Pocket or Two
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:20 Shpil Du Fidl, Shpil lyrics BUY MP3 03:20 Shpil Du Fidl, Shpil lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:20 Shpil Du Fidl, Shpil
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:16 Harei At lyrics BUY MP3 01:16 Harei At lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:16 Harei At
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:14 Soothsayer Taxim lyrics BUY MP3 01:14 Soothsayer Taxim lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:14 Soothsayer Taxim
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:09 Tailor's Sher lyrics BUY MP3 03:09 Tailor's Sher lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:09 Tailor's Sher
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:32 Striver's Sher lyrics BUY MP3 01:32 Striver's Sher lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:32 Striver's Sher
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:08 Der Dish-washer lyrics BUY MP3 01:08 Der Dish-washer lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:08 Der Dish-washer
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:59 Szol a Kakas Mar (live!) lyrics BUY MP3 03:59 Szol a Kakas Mar (live!) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:59 Szol a Kakas Mar (live!)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:54 Dreaming Wizard lyrics BUY MP3 02:54 Dreaming Wizard lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:54 Dreaming Wizard
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:22 Dray Shvester lyrics BUY MP3 03:22 Dray Shvester lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:22 Dray Shvester
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 00:32 Kinder Yorn lyrics BUY MP3 00:32 Kinder Yorn lyrics "GIFT MP3" 00:32 Kinder Yorn
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:35 Howie's Doyna / No. 2 Freylekh lyrics BUY MP3 04:35 Howie's Doyna / No. 2 Freylekh lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:35 Howie's Doyna / No. 2 Freylekh
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 07:58 Abi Gezunt Medley (live!) lyrics BUY MP3 07:58 Abi Gezunt Medley (live!) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 07:58 Abi Gezunt Medley (live!)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 00:54 Der Milner's Trern lyrics BUY MP3 00:54 Der Milner's Trern lyrics "GIFT MP3" 00:54 Der Milner's Trern
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:07 Blue Doyna Reprise lyrics BUY MP3 01:07 Blue Doyna Reprise lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:07 Blue Doyna Reprise
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 11:33 Shadkhn Tango / Rumanian Medley (live!) lyrics BUY MP3 11:33 Shadkhn Tango / Rumanian Medley (live!) lyrics "GIFT MP3" 11:33 Shadkhn Tango / Rumanian Medley (live!)
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 00:19 Moses' Morning After lyrics BUY MP3 00:19 Moses' Morning After lyrics "GIFT MP3" 00:19 Moses' Morning After
Awesome deal! When you buy this album for $8.88 you get 20 tracks for less than $0.44 each
Awesome deal! When you buy this album for $7.77 you get 20 tracks for less than $0.39 each
Wonderfully diverse, amazingly arranged, and gorgeously played klezmer on an exotic instrumental array, from wild dances to lilting sinuous tunes to jumping swing & tango vocals, with added spice from "found sound" and bonus live tracks.
Editorial review
There are better-known American klezmer bands, but fame doesn't necessarily mean the same as quality, and Metropolitan Klezmer are up there with the very best musically. Their third release, Surprising Finds, is also their most daring, and most varied, where they not only delve deeper into their Yiddish roots, but also Jewish Socialism, once a major force in the U.S., but long since vanished. And so, alongside recordings of Deborah Karpel's grandfather, and old live tunes (including "Howie's Doyna & Hora" from 1994), there's a remarkable reworking on the Broadway standard "Pick a Pocket or Two," reworked as a Balkan brass gem, while "Soviet Yiddish Theater Suite" digs back into history to show how Yiddish culture flourished briefly in the Soviet Union. As much as involving listeners with some fabulous music (just hear the beautiful "Dreaming Wizard," for example), the band is also intent on making connections to the past -- all the way down to a very well-thought-out CD booklet. Come for the music and you'll stay for the history lesson -- and enjoy it just as much. ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
Metropolitan Klezmer's third CD is their most expressive disc yet, encompassing dynamic live and studio tracks, a wide range of approaches to traditionals (embracing Greek, Turkish, Rumanian, Russian, and Arabic roots of klezmer styles). The disc won a 2004 Outmusic Award for Outstanding New Recording/Instrumental -- though we also include many fabulous vocals, including lesser-known treasures. Interspersed among the band's studio tracks and live cuts is a series of excerpted archival gems. The group even revisits "Pick a Pocket or Two" from Oliver!, with a version that is surprising indeed.
Fun and virtuosic, the eight-piece ensemble's tight and imaginative arrangements bring new life to these pieces, adding trombone for the first time to their mix of clarinet, sax, accordion, violin, trumpet, vocals, ney flute, bass, tuba, drumset, dumbeq, and kanun (78-string plectrum zither).
↓ more ↓Rarely heard folk and theater songs are sung not only by luscious vocalist Deborah Karpel, but also through the miracle of reel-to-reel tape, by her grandfather Phillip Karpel, whose Yiddish tenor has a breathtakingly lovely old-world feel. A clarinet doyna and yearning hora by klezmer legend/original Greater Metropolitan Klezmer Band member Howie Leess are also featured.
Bonus tracks bring the energy of live performances from noted NYC clubs such as Joe's Pub at the Public Theater and the Knitting Factory, with great on-stage solos. And at the very top and finish of the CD, vocal samples of the great Yiddish theater and screen star Maurice Schwartz in his 1932 role as Uncle Moses, a drunken sweatshop owner, add flavor to the mix.
"Talk about a surprising find! ... the absolute best in the klezmer style. Whoever listens to Metropolitan Klezmer opens the encyclopedia of klezmer. It's a history lesson. Every song has the right liner notes and information on the original composers and performers in the accompanying booklet. Musically everything fits. All styles get their turn, from pieces of Yiddish musicals, from jazzy swing, pure Balkan, tango, and waltzes to a few very strong wedding dances. Some of the songs are presented live, others are medleys that fit together seamlessly and four short pieces are live recordings of Deborah Karpel's grandfather, taped in the mid-Sixties... A mandatory buy for the true lover of Klezmer, to whom I also recommend visiting their website. It is as well-tended as the CD's and booklets." - RootsTown Folk & Roots music magazine [Belgium], translated from Flemish
In addition to wonderful sounds and booklet graphics, all lyrics are printed in Yiddish, with both transliteration and translation into English. And the British reviewers at The Phat Planet (Music from the Whole Wide World) included "Surprising Finds" in their Top 30 Picks for all of world music in 2003.
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