Kroke - High-energy Polish Klezmer

This morning a fellow on Twitter was asking about Polish klezmer bands. I know of two...Klezmafour and Kroke. I've written about Klemazfour before. They're a high-energy klezmer band with an affinity for electronic jazz/rock. I'm a fan. I realized, though, that I hadn't written about Kroke.


Kroke, which is Yiddish for Krakow, is a bit less high-energy than Klezmafour but has a similar affinity contemporary jazz and rock. As Ari Davidow of the Klezmershack blog notes, "The music is too dark to really represent traditional klezmer. At times, it is almost as if the Velvet Underground have been reborn as a klezmer band." That and fact that they draw on Sephardic music as much as klezmer gives them a broad, world-music-stage kind of sound. I've found their presentation to be a bit more reverv-soaked theater than I like, but that's just me. No doubt their fine musicians...Check 'em out....

kroke - klezmerzy


Kroke - Ajdejano - Krotoszyn Folk Festival 2007