Klezmatics

The GRAMMY-winning Jewish klezmer superstars celebrate 40 years of music with this return to celebrate the Festival of Light, performing seasonal music from their acclaimed holiday albums Happy Joyous Hanukkah (2006) and the 2024 follow-up EP Happier Joyous Hanukkah — both featuring lyrics by the late Woody Guthrie set to their delightful original compositions. 

Formed in the New York’s East Village in 1986, the Klezmatics led the resurgence of the nearly forgotten klezmer tradition and contemporized it with an irreverent dose of punk rock attitude, and since their inception, have been one of most visible faces of today’s Yiddish culture. Enduring a number of personnel changes over the past two decades, the band has revolved around original members Lorin Sklamberg on lead vocals and accordion, trumpeter/keyboardist Frank London and bassist Paul Morrissett. They have collaborated with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner and Israeli vocalist Chava Alberstein, and have released a dozen diverse albums, including the GRAMMY-winning Wonder Wheel, their first session that set previously unused Woody Guthrie lyrics to their own original material.

Happier Joyous Hanukkah expands on the original album with live performances of Guthrie/Klezmatics Hanukkah classics, freshly recorded renditions by the bands Fugu Dugu and Mostly Kosher, and Woody Guthrie’s original 1949 recording of his “Hanukkah Dance.”