About
What is klezmer?
“It’s a person, it’s an instrument, it’s a band, it’s a hodge-podge of genres, it’s many things. It has a beautiful diversity in practice, but somehow also draws many folks together.”
Derived from two Hebrew roots: klei (vessel) and zemer (song), the word klezmer is used to describe both a musician (“a vessel of song”), and a style of music that reflects the expressive cultural traditions of Jews from Eastern Europe. Most people understand it to consist of instrumental music played for dancing, folk songs sung in Yiddish, the traditional language of Eastern European Jews, and accompanying movement and dance forms.
What is Klezmer on Ice?
Klezmer on Ice is a festival seeking to create inclusive spaces that celebrate Jewish culture alongside Minnesota winter traditions and build relationships and connections across generations, identities, and religious affiliations through the sharing of music and dance.
In response to widespread interest in a secular, inclusive space to learn Klezmer music in Minneapolis, in 2020 a group of Twin Cities cultural organizers founded the Longfellow Village Band; a learning circle open to individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience. Over the past few years, these roughly bi-monthly meetups became a space for musicians and the music-curious to meet, learn selections from Klezmer music repertoire, and break bread and share conversation.
As the icy roots of this community grew, Minnesotans of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience continued to ask for more opportunities to participate in this music, not just as listeners, but as active participants in enjoying and re-invigorating it. Enter Klezmer on Ice: a weekend-long festival bringing the top klezmer artists and teachers to the Twin Cities and inspiring the next generation of players and audiences to explore and revive klezmer as both a connection to those who came before and part of a living, constantly evolving expressive tradition.
Klezmer on Ice in the News
It’s 50 Degrees in Minneapolis. Goodbye, Ice Shanties. [New York Times]
Klezmer On Ice Bringing New Twists To Traditional Yiddish Culture [TC Jewfolk]
Students find community, a shared passion in exploration of klezmer music [Lawrence U]
A Minnesota synagogue built an ice rink — and is inaugurating it with a klezmer skate [JTA]