[Dixielandjazz] Klezmer Kruise on S.F. Bay

[Steve Barbone]

Does anyone do Dixieland Cruises on S.F. Bay anymore? Note also that the
female klezmer clarinetist in this article likens it to Dixieland. Hey, if
anyone needs a clarinetist in the Bay area, Ms Speed might be a natural.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Friday June 1, 2007 - Cruising with the Jews, klezmer style
by Dan Pine, staff writer Jewish Weekly, Northern California

Since joining the Red Hot Chachkas five years ago, Berkeley clarinetist
Barbara Speed bandies about Yiddish words with the ease of a Crown Heights
resident. Of course, most of her vocabulary has to do with music.
Like ³kreksin,² which refers to the musical ornamentation she adds when
playing her clarinet.

³It actually means a little chirp, wail or cry,² she said. ³Kreksin is an
attempt to recreate the cantor chanting holy texts. Even though klezmer is
for the most part secular music now, religious tones have been extracted.
That ecstatic communing with God is made into music.²

Klezmer (and Chachkas) fans will have a chance to party hearty on June 10 at
Klezmer by the Bay, a three-hour cruise for Jews with kosher-style food,
great views and, of course, live klezmer. The event is co-sponsored by the
Peninsula Jewish Community Center and the JCC Jewish Cultural Collaboration.
Speed can¹t wait for the floating gig, though she hopes any rocking and
rolling they do is limited strictly to the music. ³I¹ve played on one of
those boats before,² she says of the upcoming performance on the Royal
Prince ferry. ³People can lose their equilibrium. But when you play a
woodwind, you continue to breathe deeply.²

Once at sea (or is it at bay?), the Red Hot Chachkas will mix it up with a
combination of originals and traditional Eastern European klezmer tunes.
Such mixing is standard these days for bands like hers. The klezmer band
Brave Old World calls it Œnew Jewish music¹ instead of klezmer,² she said.
Still, she adds, ³Even the new material will be grounded in the spirited
cadences of klezmer.²

Although she¹s not Jewish, Speed locked on to klezmer¹s Yiddish vibes the
moment she heard it. ³Klezmer is a very free music, with a lot of
improvisational aspects. Musicians are attracted to the kinds of scales it
has: the harmonic minor scale or the Œfreygish¹ scale.²

Speed grew up in Washington Heights, as Jewish a neighborhood as one could
find in uptown Manhattan (³Whenever there was a Jewish holiday, there was
only three of us in the classroom,² she said). She studied classical piano
and flute, but took up jazz saxophone after moving to Berkeley in 1979.
Her participation in the Westwind International Folk Ensemble exposed her to
klezmer, and she promptly fell in love. It was a musical shidduch made in
heaven. ³I see klezmer as very much like old-style Dixieland improvisation.
Dixieland had group improvisation like baroque, where everyone had an equal
part and every part was interesting.²

The same is true for klezmer, which is why Speed is sticking with it for the
long haul. How does it feel for a non-Jew to make traditional Jewish music
her stock in trade?

³Pretty natural,² she said. ²I still don¹t know what¹s going on in the
service, but having grown up as an ethical culturalist, I¹m at home
wherever. All religions are good, and people are what¹s important. Judaism
is very people oriented, certainly around here.²

³Klezmer by the Bay² takes place 5:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, June 10.
Passengers may board at Golden Gate Ferry in Sausalito or Pier 43 1/2 in
S.F. Tickets: $45-$50. Information: (650) 212-7522 or online at
www.pjcc.org.