Klezmer? I Hardly Know Er'! Sherele Klezmer Jazz Band Innovators and "Polka Dot Blues"

In my formerly limited world of music, I know that I heard klezmer music before.  But, I didn't know it had a name.  I had heard some of the Jewish traditional music from Eastern Europe, or fancied I did, through such things as Fiddler on the Roof, occasional holiday songs, and in other places.  In New Orleans I think I first heard the word klezmer, and it took me a while to associate it with those types of music, full of clarinet and violin and brass and performed in minor keys, that I thought of as Jewish.

The interesting thing about klezmer is that this traditional music originating mostly in Romania but also other eastern European areas and originally termed for its instrumentation, and then later used as a pejorative for the performers, came to the US shores and assimilated American jazz styles.  Much of the klezmer music we hear now in the US is this hybrid form of the traditional music and jazz.

So today's randomly selected song, and the group that performs it, is doubly interesting.  The Sherele Klezmer Jazz Band Innovators hail from Guadalajara, Mexico.  The ethnic makeup of the band is French, Mexican and Argentine and therefore they stand somewhat unique in the musical landscape of Mexico.  As such, the band feels that it represents the universality, diversity, and strength of human values and cultures through their music.  While starting from a traditional klezmer base, they incorporate jazz, Central and South American folklore, and rock music into their music, much as the first klezmer artists in this country coupled jazz with their traditional styles.

This song, Polka Dot Blues, is on the group's 2009 CD release Oy Mame Shein, Pickles Chiles and Jrein.  It was also included on the compilation CD Putumayo Presents: Jazz Around the World.