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Dave Tarras:
Music for the Traditional Jewish Wedding

In this landmark recording legendary klezmer clarinetist Dave Tarras (1897-1989) returns to the repertoire he had learned as a young man in Europe. Joined by his colleagues of many years – Sam Beckerman on accordion and Irving Graetz on drums – Tarras performs the kind of music that was played at Jewish weddings from his native region in the old Ukrainian province of Podolia. The selections include melodies for specific parts of the wedding ceremony, which are rich in the older Jewish music coloration, as well as dance melodies that were favored by the Ukrainian and Bessarabian Jews. The recording is structured according to the sequence of a traditional wedding and will offer the listener a deeply emotional memory of life as it was lived then, transmitted by one of the most creative men who lived it.

Available for the first time on CD, Music for the Traditional Jewish Wedding would be Tarras's last studio recording. The 1978 session was produced by his young protégés Andy Statman and Walter Zev Feldman, who were then working with the Balkan Arts Center (now CTMD) to present Tarras in a historic series of concerts-the first efforts by any institution in North America to systematically document, preserve and present klezmer music. Now, looking back thirty years later, it is clear that the Tarras concerts and recording proved to be a vital stimulus in what has become a world-wide revitalization of klezmer music.

A new 24-page booklet includes detailed track annotations and a new essay on Tarras by Walter Zev Feldman. Generous support for the reissue of Dave Tarras: Music for the Traditional Jewish Wedding was provided by the Keller-Shatanoff Foundation.

Price: $15.00 USD

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