Za’atar is a band dedicated to the performance of the vibrant music of the Jewish Mizrahi and Sephardic cultures.

A Boston based contemporary Jewish music group. A three person ensemble influenced by Craig Taubman and Debbie Friedman. They sing their own original songs which are Jewish thematically, but combine musical idioms of modern rock, blues and funk.
http://www.yomhadash.com/home.htm

Yiddish Blues,  founded in January ,2000, is a Dresden, Germany-based band consisting of Mandy Muller, violin, Bernard Muller-Weber, guitar and Reinhard John, bass. They play adaptations of early twentieth-century klezmer greats from Eastern Europe and America. They will play the standards such as hora, bulgar and chusidl, but also branch into the combo elements with swing and tango and newly composed pieces such as “The Flatbush Waltz” by Andy Statman. Their website includes nice clips of several selections and includes their CD and contact information. Additionally special is a brief history of klezmer and photos of Jewish and formerly Jewish sites in the Polish part of Galitzia and environs. the site is primarily in German. A visit to the website gallery of photos is well worth it if you want to get a glimpse how some former Jewish synagogues, mikvehs and other property are being used by Europeans today.…
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This Paris-based group has published 4 CDs with EMI records and plays Yiddish and Gypsy music. They do both traditional music and original compositions. The group consists of 8 musicians (2 violins, 1 cello, 1 bass, 1 cymbalum, 1 guitar, 1 drums and 1 accordion) 4 musicians are singing in Gypsy, Russian and Yiddish. Contact: Eric Slabiak. 22 boulevard saint denis – 75010 PARIS. tel + 33 1 45 23 31 32 . fax + 33 1 45 23 31 82.
http://www.emi.fr/lesyeuxnoirs

The Yale University klezmer group has a CD, “Klezmosis,” which was recorded by the band of 2002-03. Webpage will need updating with the new school year.
http://www.yale.edu/klezmer/

The Traveling Tefillah Band describes themselves as “a Kansas City-based musical ensemble whose mission is to bring a refreshing spirit to Jewish worship.” Their website provides samples of music, links and contact information as well as a nice photo of the group.
http://www.yachadmusic.com/

Gan Eydn (Garden of Eden) is the name Peggy Davis (artist)and Yosl (Joe) Kurland have given to their home. Their website features an entire online guide to Jewish Weddings and features information about both the recordings and the calligraphy.
http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn/

Vurma is a klezmer sextet based in Stockholm.
http://hem1.passagen.se/vurma/

Voice of the Turtle is a Boston-based group specializing in the music of the Jews of Spain. The group “learns most of its repertoire from field recordings housed in Jerusalem at the Jewish Music Research Center, at Hebrew University and at the radio station Kol Yisrael. These versions were collected by radio-journalists, scholars, and ethnomusicologists from Sephardi communities in Israel,documenting many versions of the songs which have been preserved by oral tradition.” Their website includes information on the performers, their instruments, and the group through FAQs. Artistic Director, Judith Wachs.
http://www.voiceoftheturtle.com

Group performing since 1986. Music and dance of the Sephardic heritage. Judith Brin Ingber (dancer, choreographer and co-founder); David Harris (Artistic Director, vocalist, and co-founder); Mick LaBriola (percussionist); David Burk (guitar, ‘ud, chumbush, bass);David Rockne Stenshoel (violin). They have CDs called Hamsa, Viva Sepharad, and Pasión. They perform in and around the Minneapolis area.
http://www.voicesofsepharad.com/

Tzimmes is a musical group based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Tzimmes offers a program that “emphasizes the tremendous diversity within Jewish music.” They sing klezmer tunes, Sephardic and North American folk ballads. Their programs usually include several languages. Musical samples are available at the site.
http://www.tzimmes.net/

A group dedicated to the revival and interpretation of Sephardi repertoire. Nora Usterman – soprano; Ernesto Wildbaum – violín; Ricardo Barceló – guitar. Since 1994, the Trio has successfully performed at international festivals and a great number of concerts in Spain and abroad. The website is both in English and Spanish. It includes performer bios, photos, events calendar and a little history.
http://www.arrakis.es/~wildbaum

Where can you hear Yiddish sung with an Israeli accent in a recording coming from Munich with a Weill-styled voice? Nizza Thobi sings Yiddish to German audiences who are only too familiar with klezmer feel good music, but not as much with soulful music of poets about loss, the Holocaust and other Jewish themes. The website features the razzle dazzle of flash technology and webfilm qualities. Concert venues and reviews.
http://www.nizza-thobi.com/

Folk group “Tapuah beDvash” was created last year in Israel from experienced and popular musicians of Israel. P.Levin – string player- soloist of Israel chamber orchestra (Tel-aviv). U. Chernishev – guitar player- musician in jazz band of Tel-aviv. A. Egorov – double bass-balalaika player, musician in Bar-Ilan orchestra of east music. V. Fridman- popular player of national wind instruments. A. Geyko- The leader of the group and compositions’ writer play of ethnic wind and percussion instruments. The concert program of “Tapuah beDvash” is formed on Jewish folklore with elements Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Moldavian, Greek and Turkish folklore. The peculiarity of this group distinguishes it from klezmer music in that there are not only traditional instruments (string, guitar, clarinet, small drum), byt the musicians use many other interesting ethnic instruments (wind instruments- koval, fluer, Akkorini, Sopeli, Volinka, Halili, and drums- Darbuka, Lojki, Buhalo, and many others).…
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Robert Braunschweig, director. Bernard San, Chazan. Language of site: German. The amazing thing about this website is that they’ve digitized their standard repertoire to make it available to their members. You can view or print from this digital music collection at their website. Website includes a schedule of their concerts and synagogue work.
http://www.synagogenchor.ch/

Adriaan Stoet, violin & Tjako van Schie, piano. “Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshternt– Yiddish music from the ghettos and concentration camps” is the name of their CD. It has selections such as Peat Bog Soldier, Es Brent, Yisrolik and other Yiddish and European songs from WWII and the Holocaust.
http://users.castel.nl/~schic02/yiddish.htm

A small klezmer simcha band. Let by Henry Shapiro of Swissvale, PA. Contact information and brief sound sample on website. Contact: klezmer@henryshapiro.com
http://www.henryshapiro.com/klezmer.htm

Noah Solomon and C Lanzbom are the two artists behind Soul Farm. They first met in Israel in Modii m (founded by the late Shlomo Carlebach) in the 1990 s . They began performing together in Israel with their own band and also accompanied Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. After a few years, they moved to NYC where they formed the group Inasense which later became Soulfarm. The website features clips of music, photos, CDs for sale and news of their activities. The albums they have made include: Monkey Dance, Unwind, Live At The Wetlands, Scream of the Crop, Butterfly, Live in Berlin, The Ride, Get Your Shine Box, and Jerry Jams, Jerry Cares.
http://www.soulfarm.net

Independent record company located in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area dedicated to bringing the finest in Contemporary and Traditional Jewish Music. So far, only one record listed on the site.
http://www.songofsongsmusic.com/

Performed in CD called: Solomon & Socalled’s HipHopKhasene. Sophie Solomon’s website includes information about the CD, photos, writings, and information about the performers. Audio clips also available.
http://www.digitallisallstars.com/index.html

American singer. Peri Smilow is singer/guitarist who performs synagogue and other religious music in a contemporary setting. She has also taken part in the Freedom Music Project, which features freedom music from the traditions of both Jews and Blacks. Peri Smilow, located in Boston, tries to repair relations between the two groups by putting activity and actions together. “Sign of the Dove Music” is Peri’s record label. To buy direct from Peri’s label: P.O. Box 3083 Cambridge MA. 02238
http://www.perismilow.com/

From Minsk, Belaurus.Ethnomusicologist and klezmer clarinetist. Leader of the “Minsker Kapelye” klezmer ensemble. In 2004, graduated from the PG school of the Belarus State Academy of Music (Music History Dept. with a Ph.D. dissertation “Klezmer Tradition as a Phenomenon of Eastern European Jewish Culture”. At present, teaching ethnomusicology and history of music at the Academy and the National Musical College, Minsk.
http://klezmer.narod.ru/

A French Yiddish band which features: Richard Schmoucler (violin); Christian Briere (violin); Ana Bela chaves (viola); Laurence Allalah (cello); Bernard Cazauran (double-bass); Philippe Berrod (clarinet); Iurie Morar (cymbalum); Laurent Boukobza (pianist). Six of these artists are also members of the prestigious Orchestre de Paris. Their performances are very popular and obtained support from many artists including Christoph Eschenbach, Ivry Gitlis, and Jo Amar. Their first CD “Un Violon sur les Toit de Paris” achieved good reviews with excellent arrangements of traditional standards. The group is more widely presented on their website which includes a discography, bios of the group members, sound clips and a video interview with Richard Schmoucler (in French). Extensive publicity pdfs are also available with lots of information about the group and its programs.…
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A very interesting group of 3 Breslev Chassidim, who tour the US and Canada widely, but live in Sfat Israel. The instrumentation is two guitars and one violin. The have two recordings “Be Happy” and “Fresh Air”. They also sing. To sample some music, http://www.judaism.com/display.asp?type=music&uniqueTitle=95571 on real audio.
http://www.simplytsfat.com/

Shtreiml is a group founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and features the 10-hole diatonic harmonica, piano, accordian, drums, and bass. The group mixes klezmer and hasidic music as well as jazz and ‘gypsy’. The vocalist is Abby Rosenblatt. The website features biographies, some clips of music, reviews and some contact information.
http://www.shtreiml.com

A Chicago based simcha band which performs around the midwest area. The band considers their orchestrations and style updated. The site lists contact information, a history of the band and a list of their repertoire.
http://www.jewishbands.com/

“Lead by Clarinetist/Saxophonist Dave Shulman, this vibrant group of young, jewish and non-jewish musicians, having met at the Royal Academy of Music and whose various nationalities include French, Danish, Scottish and English, have teamed together to bring you a lively, eclectic range of klezmer music.” Website includes bios and contact info.
http://www.shleppingmishpacha.com/

Tufts University’s Co-ed Jewish A Cappella put together several CDs including: Man, Woman, and Shewitz which sold out, Transliteration (2005) and Zoozin’ (2006). The group has been featured twice on the BOCA compilation CD’s. the group is available for appearances. For more information, visit the website:
www.shirappeal.com

Musicians from Moshav Amirim in the Galilee, Israel have grouped with others to create Sheva. “As a group whose members come from different religions and different paths, we respect the cultural and traditional origin of each and every person. Jewish, Muslim, and Christian musicians from Semite religions join together in creating the music of Sheva.”
http://www.sheva.org/

Sheera Recordings, the duo of Ilene Safyan and Margie Rosenthal, has a website about their group, philosophy and recordings. They work extensively with children and have been enthusiastically received. These women are excellent educators as well as Jewish music performers.
http://www.sheeramusic.com/

Cantor Terry Horowit (vocals, guitar), Marcia Bronstein (piano), and Wendy Morrison (accordions, whistles, concertina, banjo, vocals). The trio, formed in 2002, specializes in Jewish liturgical and inspirational music in Hebrew and English, and some original compositions of Cantor Horowit.
http://www.shalsheletmusic.com

Simcha Band. Features Avraham Solomon and Kol Zimra. Also features the NCSY All Boys Choir. A portion of the proceeds of the recording benefits NCSY. Website includes some photos, credits and a single album sample.
http://www.shabbascomesalive.com/index.html

Seeds of Sun, a jazz improv Quintet from Israel performs widely throughout the US and Israel. The Kennedy Center Millenium Stage performance held in November, 2002 has an online video of the performance. Their concerts feature contemporary jazz and arrangements of popular Israeli music.
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=SEEDSOFSUN#

Schnapps is an Australian Jewish “function” band which performs Jewish music in the style of Avraham Fried, Yehuda Glanz or the Miami Boys– as well as contemporary music in general popular and jazz styles. Their web site is, well, “attention-getting-with-Australian-humor.”
http://goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au/~isaac/schnapps/

According to the website, Satlah’s music is “a unique blend of jazz, world music and avant-garde with a strong Jewish/middle eastern flavor.” The band, based in New York City, has a new CD called “Exodus” recorded live at Tonic in New York’s Lower East Side, and a first CD called “Satlah” which features John Zorn as a guest artist. Satlah is an Israeli slang term… John Zorn is producing their music on the Tzaddik label. In the past year, Satlah has performed at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland, the Klezmer Express Festival in Verona, Italy, the MIMI New Music Festival in Marseilles, France and at a concert in London along with John Zorn for BBC Radio. They also performed at the Chicago Cultural Center through the Israeli Consulate and the Washington D.C.…
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Safam is a vocal group that’s been around for years. What’s nice is, they continue to write new music, primarily in English. Yet, Safam has reached the point where you can now get “greatest hits” albums. In the world of Jewish music, this is some sort of milemarker few ever reach. The Safam website has many online clips of music from a variety of their albums, old and new, a clear and simple chart with listings of upcoming concerts, songbooks, CDs and biographies of the performers.
http://www.safam.com/safam/

Sabbath Hela Veckan is an instrumental sextet based in Sweden with members from Sweden, the US and Finland. Formed in 1989 their repetoire is “a musical and visual experience in Klezmer, Gypsy and east-European music.”
http://www.sami.se/art/pbothen/homee1.htm

Jewish band in Austin, Texas, led by Mark Rubin, an okie living in Texas. The first CD was Flipnotic Freilachs. Mark’s biography and discography appear on his website. He’s also a member of the Youngers of Zion band with Hank Saposnik, and is a regular member of many klezmer bands. He’s recorded widely with a wide variety of musicians in various genres.
http://www.markrubin.com/rubinchik.html

Israeli band weaves “spiritual lyrics with Latin, African and Middle Eastern grooves” comprised of six members living in Israel.
http://www.revalsheva.com/

The Reuben Jewish Jazz Duo is Nehama and Shimon Reuben, husband and wife professionals in Jewish music, for harp & piano. They perform traditional Jewish music, liturgical, and new compositions. They have produced several albums between 1997 and the present, and travel throughout Europe to play in festivals. They will appear in Prague at the Jewish Music Festival in summer of 2000 and on national French TV for the 2000 millenium celebrations. Shimon recently recorded a new double album CD piano jazz solo “Yom Yeroushalayim Blues”, 25 compositions Nehama composed for harp solo and just published “Rhapsodia Ivria for harp” by Editions Combre – Paris. CDs are for sale at www.fnac.com
shimon-reuben.jimdo.com

“The exciting six-piece, world beat band, featuring vocals, balalaika, guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, and exotic percussion, plays material from their three CDs plus traditional and new songs.” The band members are Bruce Burger (all things with strings); Tim Bolling Percussion; John Waller Drums,Percussion; Lyn Rose Vocals.
http://www.rebbesoul.com/

David and Shira, a singing duo, perform in the New York area in Concerts featuring Broadway Classics, Opera, Cantorial, Yiddish, Israeli and Original compositions. Cantor David Presler has been serving congregations for the past 25 years as Cantor/Educator and is a Doctoral Candidate in Jewish Education and Administration. David’s Jewish Jazz CD entitled “Time for Moshiach” can be heard at www.davidpresler.com. Shira Flam, Soprano, has numerous credits performing off Broadway, in the Yiddish Theatre as well as in professional opera. Her sweet energy and exquisite high notes always touch the hearts of our audiences! David and Shira sing duets such as Fiddler’s “Do You Love Me”, The opening of Marriage of Figaro and Falling in “Love is Wonderful”. Please visit them on You Tube by typing in “David and Shira”, choose Hawaii performance.…
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