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The Jews and Gypsies of Eastern Europe combined indigenous folk melodies with their own traditional music to create instrumental folk music called klezmer.
These unique sounds have found their way to the United States and into the heart of violinist Yale Strom. Strom attended a klezmer band concert in 1980 in San Diego. He decided there was enough room for two klezmer bands in the area and formed his own group, Zmiros, in 1981 with fellow musician and bass player Geoff Pekarek.
Sixteen years and many changes later, Strom's band is called Klazzj and consists of Tripp Sprague on saxophone and flute, Gene Perry on percussion, Lou Fanucchi on accordion, Elizabeth Schwartz on vocals, Pekarek, and Strom. Their traditional klezmer music and non- traditional contemporary sounds are featured in concert halls around the country.
Klazzj presents a special concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 13, at the James A. Little Theater, showcasing their varied repertoire. Wanderers: Jews and Gypsies is part of the Second Annual Santa Fe Festival of Jewish Culture and Creativity. It also features classical and flamenco guitarist Adam del Monte and flamenco dancer Laila del Monte.
The traditional portion of the program...