Jewdyssee - The return of Yiddish cabaret!

There's definitely something in the air. Jewish music, everything from klezmer to cantorial, is getting caught up, chopped up, and whipped up into a frenzy in dance clubs around the world by adventerous DJ's and musicians who love the crazy funkiness of many traditional Jewish musical forms. I wrote recently (here and here) about the British klezmer / house DJ mashup "Ghettoplotz" and many times (including here and here) about the Canadian klezmer accordion player & hip hop DJ Socalled. Not to mention Diwon and Erran Baron Cohen. Today's addition to the fray is Germany's Jewdyssee, who draw on the over-the-top visual theatrics of Yiddish cabaret as the focus for there genre-bending music excursions.

From a recent interview over at The Jew Spot"

"Jewdyssee is currently a music project. What we are aiming to achieve through our music is the celebration of Jewish music and culture that shows this culture is alive, vibrant and evolving.

The name Jewdyssee comes from the word Odyssey that describes a journey – a journey to consciousness. The name reflects our musical journey exploring the old Yiddish songs and bringing them into a current day musical context.

Jewdyssee is not about making a political or religious statement. We just want to show that our culture not only has a tragic history, but that there is a great wealth of music and culture to be celebrated and that this culture is a current part of our lives that we want to express and share."

Sounds great to me. Both the sentiment and the music. Check out Jew Spot for the full interview. And check out the Jewdyssee MySpace page for more info.

JEWDYSSEE

Update: Ok, so I forgot to mention that Jewdyssee will be playing the upcoming Jewlicious Festival at the end of February - early March in the LA / Long Beach area. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, check it out.