I know next to nothing about klezmer music. When Jason Rosenblatt and I got in touch last year and discussed me reviewing Spicy Paprikash, I told him that I had very little background to substantiate a review, but he didn’t seem to mind. Maybe it’s better, after all, since I can only base my appreciation on what I hear, notwithstanding elements of background on the genre.
Shtreiml is a Quebec based klezmer band with, at its core, five musicians : Josh Dolgin on Accordion and Vocals, Thierry Arsenault on Drums, Ariel Harrod on Bass, Rachel Lemish on Trombone and the aforementioned Jason Rosenblatt on Harmonica and Keyboards. There are also several guests playing on the record. It is my understanding from reading the sleeve notes (and what little background I do have on Jewish music) that the clarinet is the traditional soloist instrument of klezmer, and that is the role that Jason is filling with the diatonic harmonica instead.
The record opens on a fiery original entitled Uncle Tibor’s Spicy Paprikash, a minor theme with a suitably eastern oriental feel. It is as good an introduction to Jason’s playing as you can get: although he is obviously very fluent on the diatonic, Jason doesn’t abuse this fluency in needless fireworks, he uses it to forward the feel of the genre, with lots of ornamentations and heavy vibratos. Halfway through, unsurprisingly, the theme starts again a double the original speed, in a very energetic fashion. Great tune, great playing.
Although the opener sets the tone, there is also a more modern feel on some pieces as expressed by the second track Rachel’s Bulgar, a slower theme arranged with a near-swing backing. This oscillation is felt throughout, some pieces that I identify (perhaps wrongly considering my lack of background) as “traditional” and some that seem to stray further from the canons of the genre. In fact, Jason’s electric keyboard playing seems to be a strong contributor to this feel of “modernity”.
Apart from Halevai, an energetic piece sung in English, and Trombonic Tanz which has a spoken part in (I guess) Yiddish, the record features only instrumentals, but they are fairly varied both in feel and instrumentation. There are some very lively numbers, including the aforementioned Paprikash, but also an entertaining Gas-Nign and my favourite piece from the record, Hora Ca Din Caval.
In a similar fashion to the first track, Hora Ca Din Caval is a two-part piece with the same theme, once played comparatively slow and then played again at neck breaking pace. The theme is a call and response between accordion and harmonica backed by bass and cimbalom (a metallic string instrument, I’d never heard of and had to look up. It’s a kind of zither, more info to be found here) Anyway, it’s a romping piece, on which Jason displays great expressivity, with vibratos that sound nearly like ululations. I’m guessing that’s a clarinet trick he stole.
There are also slower and sadder themes on Spicy Paprikash. In particular, Nign, in which Jason plays using the now classic “harp in a cup” is a very melancholic tune, soberly backed up and very tastefully played. I guess that fits my limited understanding of the genre in which joyous pieces cohabit with more somber numbers, sometimes in the same song. Kind of like in New Orleans style brass bands, for those who, like me, know that style better.
At the end of the day, Spicy Paprikash is a record I enjoyed at first listen and which clearly stands the test of repeated listening. It’s hard for me to say whether it’s a great klezmer record, but I’m fairly confident in recommending it to harmonica enthusiasts who like world music. Jason’s use of the diatonic is both very impressive technically and yet always tasteful. Even the few times at which he goes in jazz-mode improvisation, like on the end of Trombonic Tantz, are musical and not flashy. I hope that as Jason’s skills and fame grow (as they both will inevitably do) he always keeps this sense of taste he displays here. I will certainly stay tuned to his further releases as long as he does! For more on Shtreiml, you can go see their website, and if you're interested in purchasing the record, it's on sale here at www.cdroots.com and at www.cdbaby.com.
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