"The Wholesale Klezmer Band added a dimension to our weekly summer music program that
not only engaged and pleased the audience, but also raised listeners' awareness of
a musical tradition that many people rarely get to hear and enjoy in depth." Roy Nilson, Petersham, MA Friday Market coordinator
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Calendar of public performances
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Since 1982 The Wholesale Klezmer Band has performed traditional music for Jewish weddings and other simkhes, celebrations, on the concert stage, and at school and college educational programs. These include performances and workshops at the Conference on Judaism in Rural New England, the Conference for the Advancement of Jewish Education, the New England Festival of Folk Arts (NEFFA), a Celebration of Folk Music for the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall hosted by Pete Seeger, and at the inauguration of President Clinton. The band's repertoire includes klezmer dance music, Yiddish folk songs, Yiddish theater and vaudeville songs, and original compositions.
The Wholesale Klezmer Band members are Yosl (Joe) Kurland, (vocals), Aaron Bousel (accordion), Brian Bender (trombone), Peggy Davis (flute & vocals), and Joanna Morse (fiddle).
We also honor Sherry Mayrent who was our long-time clarinetist and music director, and remember David Tasgal z"l who played clarinet and fiddle with us for many years.
The Wholesale Klezmer Band performs songs in Yiddish and loshn koydesh, Ashkenazic Hebrew, and specializes in making it accessible to the English-speaking world with translations, stories, explanations, visual aids, and that universal language that speaks to your feet and makes them want to dance. They compose original dance tunes and Yiddish songs that speak to contemporary concerns.
The Wholesale Klezmer Band performs music for both Jewish and general audiences that expresses Jewish values of justice and peace. By introducing Jewish music and culture to young audiences of diverse ethnic groups, religions and races they work to foster intercultural understanding.
For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or e-mail at wkb@ganeydn.com
Educational Programs
See also: Workshops
See also: School Programs
See also: Yosl Teaches Yiddish
The Wholesale Klezmer Band and its members offer educational programs, concerts and dances for elementary schools, junior high and high schools, colleges and adult education. Program topics include:
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Introducing Jewish Music and Culture
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How to Dance at a Jewish Wedding
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Yiddish Song and Music in Jewish life
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What Makes Jewish Music Jewish?
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Why would anyone write Yiddish songs today?
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Lakhn mit trern--"Laughing with Tears" as a theme in Jewish music, prayer, and life
"This performance fascinated our population that is usually very hard to please. Our students enjoyed the unfamiliar sounds and the exposure to a culture so different from their own. It was a pleasure to see the spark that was going over from Joe to the audience."
Gunter Nagels, teacher, Holyoke, Massachusetts
Please have a look at letters of reference from Mary Ann Clarkson, Principal of Erving, Massachusetts elementary school, and Alice Grunfeld, Executive Director of Kamp Kinderland in Tolland, Massachusetts.
For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or e-mail at wkb@ganeydn.com
What they say about Wholesale:
I wanted to thank you from the bottom of both my and Rosie's hearts for being there for us, our families and our friends on our wedding day. I felt so moved, so emotional and so grateful for your music.
Not only my father, but so many of our friends, teachers, colleagues said your music was the life and soul of the wedding. I found it so transporting to hear the Yiddish. I know my Ashkenazi grandmother z"l, who was a Holocaust survivor, would have adored it. And I hope you saw how delighted Rosie's grandfather who is 95 and grew up speaking Yiddish was to hear these songs. It felt like a conquest over death in so many ways.
I was so moved to hear the Bavli tunes. My mother told that thanks to your music she felt that my grandfather's z"l neshama was there with us in your work and tunes. I was so happy and and so delighted that the ruach of my father's family could be brought there by you. It was so beautiful. I really appreciate the work you put in and cannot tell you how wonderfully it came off. Many people from my family said how touched and delighted they were for these tunes, so ancient, so beloved, to be there.
My personal favourite was to hear the Bendigamos being sung. Really, thanks to you, I felt the wedding was able to offer a beautiful window on the richness of Jewish civilisation to our non-Jewish friends and colleagues. Many friends they told me they wished they were Jewish to have such music at their own weddings!
So thank you, once again.
Hoping to hear your music again at many more simchas in our family in the future,
Yours,
Ben and Rosie
A New England treasure.
Jewish Federation Reporter of New Hampshire
Music to bridge the gulf of war.
Amherst Bulletin
An unforgettable evening of comedy and drama and joy and sorrow.
Dee Sarno, Saratoga County Arts Council
Wonderfully entertaining and moving.
Jewish Weekly News of Western Massachusetts
The universality of what you do makes this somewhat esoteric art accessible to people from totally divergent backgrounds.
Joan Epro, Dean's office, Franklin Pierce College
Their upbeat, danceable, festive-like music made it hard for me to sit still.
The North Adams State College Beacon
An evening that was a gift of love and spiritual blessing. You helped to transform strangers into a dancing family.
Magdalena Gomez, Hadley, Ma
Other references from wedding and bar/bas mitzve customers as well as presenters available on our wedding page, our reference page, and by request.
For information and bookings, call Joe Kurland at 413-624-3204 or e-mail at wkb@ganeydn.com
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