Klezmer music at celebration of Yiddish life in old Poland

Staff report

LIBERTY

Klezmerklatch, a celebration of Yiddish life in old Poland, will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Kravitz Deli, 3135 Belmont Ave.

It will feature violinist Steven Greenman of Cleveland, who is an expert on klezmer, the lively traditional folk music of Ashkenazi Jews of eastern Europe. Admission is free.

The evening will begin with music by a klezmer combo at 6:30 p.m. A talk on Yiddish-isms will follow.

At 7:30 p.m., Greenman will deliver a lecture and performance on klezmer music that will include a demonstration on how the same piece would be played Polish style and klezmer style.

The klezmer combo will perform again following Greenman.

Greenman is recognized internationally as one of the finest practitioners, composers and teachers of traditional East European Jewish klezmer violin music. He has produced two landmark recordings documenting his original Jewish and klezmer compositions.

A co-founder of the Khevrisa ensemble with cimbalist and historian Walter Zev Feldman, Greenman is also co-producer and lead performer of Khevrisa-European Klezmer Music on the Smithsonian Folkways label, and has performed internationally with notable klezmer ensembles.

As a concert performer, Greenman has been a guest soloist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, the Canton Symphony and the Akron Symphony performing his own arrangements.

Klezmerklatch, sponsored by Polish Youngstown and Kravitz, is a benefit for the Akiva Academy library. All who bring a book (appropriate for grades kindergarten to 8) to donate to the library will be entered in the door prize drawing.

The family-friendly event is a way to culturally bridge the gap between the Polish and Jewish communities, and will include beer and other beverages and the special Klezmerklatch Platter, a combination of Polish and Jewish foods prepared as they might have been in an Ashkenazi household in Bialystok in the early 1900s.