Klezmer and Israeli music, and some bluegrass at events large or small
Weddings, bar/bas mitzveh parties, community gatherings, parties, concerts. Energetic and soulful klezmer and Romanian renditions; Israeli dances. Fidl, viola, accordion, cello/bass, drums.
Bruce Bierman (Berkeley) is a Jewish dance master, choreographer, teaching artist and award-winning theater director. He teaches and leads all kinds of Jewish dance including Hasidic and klezmer/Yiddish. He is Artistic Director of New Yiddish Theater and Yiddish Theatre Ensemble From 1989-2000, he was a leading performer and dance educator...
Dance Classes & Dance Leaders, Lecturers, Performers / East Bay
Performance poet, educator. Solo readings, performances in collaboration with jazz/klezmer musicians.
Since 2010, KlezNu has been hypnotizing audiences with their fusion of klezmer and modern jazz. Led by the Bay Area's cherished performer Barry Reich, KlezNu performs original and traditional Klezmer tunes which take away your daily woes. Check out their music at https://www.reverbnation.com/kleznu.
Renna Khuner-Haber is a longtime Jewish community organizer and song leader. She is a collector of Jewish melodies old and new and ran the Bay Area Nigun Collective (www.nigun.community) for four years. She has taught workshops and supported individuals around the country in starting their own wordless singing groups. Renna...
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers & Song Leaders / East Bay
Majorly Minor is Naomi Zamir and her band of friends playing soulful and vibrant klezmer melodies, as well as music from other Eastern European traditions. The band members are Stella Bonilla on violin, Ginny Snyder on Bass, and Naomi Zamir on accordion, with a rotating cast of surprise friends. Performs...
Song leader, choir director, band leader and music teacher. Leads the band ADAMA and the Nigunim Chorus; has taught adults and children for 25 years; leads singing in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino around the Bay Area; provides music transcriptions, choral arrangements, sound equipment, and event planning and managing.
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers & Song Leaders / East Bay
Stuart Brotman, bass, basy (cello), tilinca and baraban (poik), has been an accomplished performer, arranger and recording artist in the ethnic music field for over 50 years. He has been a moving force in the klezmer revival since its beginning, and has defined klezmer bass (“It’s a large instrument that...
Jason Ditzian is a wind instrumentalist who has composed and performed numerous works for dance, movie and theater. He has been manager of Kugelplex for over 15 years. When he's not playing klezmer, Jason performs and records with many Bay Area ensembles, including Charming Hostess and inkBoat. He is the Managing Director...
Gale Kissin, a.k.a. Gishe Reyzl, is a Yiddish folksinger and guitarist.
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers & Song Leaders / Sonoma County
Simka has played at b’ney mitzveh parties, weddings, parties, festivals, and charity events in the North Bay. Repertoire includes klezmer, Israeli folk dances, jazz standards, tangos, polkas, fiddle tunes, and café music. Available for gigs anywhere in the North Bay (and beyond!)
Klezmer jazz world music dance band led by Ben Brussell for over 20 years. Numerous recordings. Performed at numerous festivals, clubs, concerts, radio and television, for colleges, Jewish organizations, private events, and simkhehs. Provided music at 2008 opening of the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Performs for Jewish life cycle events, simkhehs,...
Performer, lecturer, and song leader. “Yiddish Piano Bar,” “Avanti! Forverts!” (Yiddish and Italian Protest Songs with Michael Alpert, Francesco Spagnolo), cabaret performances with band, and traditional khazones (chazanut). She has performed concerts of Yiddish songs throughout Israel, Europe, and U.S. Featured on Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman CD, Af di Gasn fun der...
Lecturers, Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers & Song Leaders / East Bay
The “Singing Jewish Cowboy,” Scott comes from a secular left-wing Jewish agricultural community near Petaluma, where Yiddish culture and activism for social justice were very important. He has worked in agriculture all his life, mainly on cattle ranches. Sings country, folk and cowboy songs, but Yiddish “shtetl folksongs,” sung to...
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers & Song Leaders / Sonoma County