Morry Frenkel speaks with Alexandra Kaufman, founder of and musician in The Klezmer Valley Girls band. Alexandra plays the banjo and has adapted traditional klezmer music to incorporate a bluegrass element (she refers to it as "klezmericana"), to produce a unique sound. She describes how the banjo appeared in Jewish musical contexts about 100 years ago, through Jewish migration - especially to the US - and meetings between Jewish, jazz and other musicians. The interactions between Jewish and American cultures were expressed in early 20th century recordings. Alexandra talks about the impact of the rise in antisemitism since October 7th on the band’s invitations to music festivals. Listeners can hear two tracks from the band’s 2022 CD, “The Klezmer Valley Experience”, by clicking on following link: https://klezmervalleygirls.bandcamp.com/album/the-klezmer-valley-experience  and playing “Freylekhs” and “Terkisher”. The CD and individual tracks can be purchased through that site.

Go to https://omny.fm/shows/lchaim-to-life where you will find a full library of past programs and past podcasts.

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