Congregation Beth David

Annual Meeting

was held Sunday, June 27 at 7:00 PM at the Shul

All members in good standing were invited to meet and elect Officers and Board Members for the 2004-2005 year, partake of some special refreshments, and enjoy an hour or so of lively musical entertainment provided by our special guests, Quahog Klezmer.

The elected Slate of Officers and Board Members to serve until June 30, 2005:

Quahog Klezmer

as seen at the Towers in March

Quahogs are about as kosher as pork roast on Saturday so why a Quahog Klezmer band? Today’s Klezmer music comes from the Klezmorim, the Jewish musicians of eastern Europe – and they weren’t always the most kosher of the bunch. Though they carried much of the tradition of secular Yiddish music, they did all kinds of things frowned on by the more religious community like mixing with gypsies (the other great musician class of eastern Europe) stealing tunes from the local folk musicians, and encouraging mixed dancing. You wouldn’t want your daughter to marry one, but you definitely needed them to have a really good wedding.

The Quahog Klezmer ensemble carries on this savory legacy by exploring the outer limits of traditional Jewish music and its eastern European context. This is music for dancing, for singing, for celebrating, and for remembering that we approach as a living east European folk music tradition, not as nostalgia. The trio performs forgotten gems of the klezmer canon as well as the Ukranian and Romanian dance music that became a part of the Jewish repertoire. We explore both the lyrical intensity of Hasidic religious melodies and the back-country bump of an old-world village wedding.

We’re grounded in tradition, but tradition does not imply stuffiness: Accessible to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike, our concerts are lively, informative and fun. Quahog Klezmer – not quite kosher, but pretty darn good.