Concert: Veretski Pass and the Gaskin-Boden duo

Join us for a very special evening of klezmer music, featuring some of the leading musicians on the global klezmer scene today. This concert breathes new life into old music: both groups represent a continuity of the long lineage of Eastern European Jewish folk music, and the concert reflects a gradual passing of the torch from the stalwarts of Veretski Pass to the upstarts of the Gaskin-Boden duo.

The Gaskin-Boden duo (Dmitri Gaskin, accordion, and Raffi Boden, cello) presents an original vision of klezmer music within the stripped down instrumentation of cello and accordion. Their unique approach and creative arrangements blur the lines between melody and accompaniment, seamlessly weaving together old country shtetl fiddle repertoire, Yiddish song, and the classic New York klezmer sound. Boden and Gaskin draw melodies from historical archives as well as present their own original compositions.

Taking its name from the mountain pass through which Magyar tribes crossed into the Carpathian basin to settle what later became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Veretski Pass offers a unique and exciting combination of virtuosic musicianship and raw energy that has excited concertgoers across the world. The trio plays Old Country Music with origins in the Ottoman Empire, once fabled as the borderlands of the East and the West. In a true collage of Carpathian, Jewish, Rumanian and Ottoman styles, typical suites contain dances from Moldavia and Bessarabia; Jewish melodies from Poland and Rumania; Hutzul wedding music from Carpathian-Ruthenia; and haunting Rebetic aires from Smyrna, seamlessly integrated with original compositions. Their CDs have repeatedly been on the 10-best recording lists of journalists since 2002.

At the Back Room in Berkeley.