Klezical Tradition To Perform Free Family Concert At WCSU

DANBURY — The kickoff event for the 2006 fall season of the Western CT State University World Music, Dance and Culture Series will be a rollicking concert by The Klezical Tradition, one of the finest authentic Jewish klezmer bands touring today.

It will take place Saturday, September 16, at 7:30 pm, in White Hall, on White Street (Route 6). The concert is free and the public of all ages is welcome, thanks to co-sponsorship by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the WCSU President’s Initiative Fund grant, in collaboration with the CT Folklife Project.

The vibrant ensemble has been known to take audiences back to an era of pickle barrels, Victrolas and sepia-toned photographs, of street musicians in Old Europe attracting crowds of listeners drawn to their infectious rhythms and melodies.

The Klezical Tradition includes some of the finest, highly-trained musicians in the US, including flutist Adrianne Greenbaum, violinist “Cookie” Segelstein, vocalist Fraidy Katz, and clarinetist Walter Mamlok, and keeps its fingers on both the pulse of historical authenticity as well as high-spirited entertainment.

The band’s program is a celebration of family life from the cradle to weddings and beyond, with stories and songs of warmth and humor. They play rich and lively arrangements of traditional Eastern European folk songs, Yiddish theater hits, and lively bulgars and freylekhs (dance music) that will gets people dancing in the aisles.

Doors will open at 7 pm. Call the CT Folklife Project, 748-1131, for additional information.