Here’s what the renowned Dutch daily paper NRC has to say about the AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND:”This group has very little to offer to ‘Klezmer-purists’ since Klezmer was never meant to be polished and perfected for concert halls. With their festive approach they take the music out of the conservatory corridors into the street.” It is 2008 and the AKB has been blessed with many enthusiastic fans both in the Netherlands and abroad. Other bands are covering AKB songs and remixes of their tracks are found worldwide. Over the past few years they have performed at many prestigious venues around the world, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and at important festivals such as North Sea Jazz, Ashkenaz, Sziget and Lowlands. The Amsterdam Klezmer bug is spreading...

Hence the title of AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND’s latest release ZARAZA. In Slavic languages zaraza means infectious or contagious, in Polish it is the word for epidemic. Zaraza is indeed an infectious album from an extremely virulent and passionate band. The album contains 15 brand new tracks, all original compositions rooted in the Klezmer tradition and infused with Romanian, Turkish, Serbian, Russian and Macedonian sounds. With Zaraza the band has achieved the optimal CD recording of their unique sound and qualities. The AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND is showcased in its purest form, with virtuoso and provocative performances by the musicians. On Zaraza the musical fire so characteristic of the AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND is stoked to an even greater heat. "Not only do the horns play the signature Klezmer parts like they could do it in their sleep, but also the cool sounds of Dutch hip-hop. Could this be the future sound of Klezmer?" Franz Zipperer/Clarino

The AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND story began in 1996. A few Amsterdam boys with Jewish backgrounds became inspired by the catchy sounds of Klezmer music and started busking. Since that time the band has evolved into a seven-member formation which is now the Klezmer and Balkan music pride of the Netherlands. Their lengthy time on the road and extensive experience are now paying off spectacularly. The band just keeps getting better and better and has again reached a new level with Zaraza.

JOANN SFAR
All started with a dedication in his comic best seller “Klezmer”. Joann Sfar wrote: “At the beginning of the book, I'm not too sure what tune the Baron of My Backside plays with his harmonica. But I imagine that when it heats up it must sound like some pieces by the Amsterdam Klezmer Band. They're my favorite group. They know what it's like to play in bars. They sound like a Klezmer version of The Pogues. They are giving Klezmer music a street credibility". We are outmost happy that this star of the French comic scene did the cover for this CD. In his work Sfar expresses a pleasantly unorthodox perspective on his Jewish background, something he has in common with the AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND.

AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND & Essay Recordings
Zaraza is released on the German label Essay Recordings, continuing their earlier collaboration. The 2006 release of AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND “Remixed!” resulted in good sales and reviews worldwide. The track “Sadagora Hot Dub”, Shantel's remix of the track Son became a genuine club hit. The accompanying tour and collaborative project with the prodigious producer duo C-mon and Kypski in the Netherlands, Germany and France were a great success and proved that Klezmer music and Beats are going together very well.

A BIOGRAPHY:
With their talented musicians, the Amsterdam Klezmer Band (AKB) is an energetic and poetic stage act that charms international audiences. Their refreshing approach to Klezmer and Balkan music transcends the traditional aspects of this music and results in a very lively mix of Eastern-European sound. Their strength lies in their ability to appeal to a remarkably broad audience across all age groups; they play clubs or theatres, festivals, parties, weddings or formal functions. AKB can both fire up a crowd and create pure listening pleasure with the vibrancy of their playing. Their instrumental skills are complemented by the vocals of Alec Kopyt from Odessa and Job Chajes (also on saxophone).

Since its foundation in 1996 by saxophone player Job Chajes, the band has evolved rapidly. In no time the band became world-famous in Amsterdam for its many vibrant performances on the streets, in the parks and in the pubs. Soon the rest of The Netherlands followed: the band performed at the Oerol Festival in 1999, 2000 and 2001 to great acclaim and was invited to the Noorderslagfestival in January 2001 (the media describing their performance as 'the great surprise of the festival'), followed by the Lowlands Festival in August 2001. During that period the band toured in Slovenia, Switzerland and Italy and completed three successful tours of Turkey. The third CD of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Limonchiki, was released on the New York label Knitting Factory label and the band had a grand tour of the Dutch club scene in the autumn of 2001, with as its highpoint the presentation of Limonchiki at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. In September 2003 the CD Katakofti was released. It's the result of a collaborative effort of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band and the Galata Gypsy Band from Turkey. The CD was released on Turkish label Kalan Records. In January 2005 SON (Russian for ‘dream') was released, containing a veritable treasure-trove of new Amsterdam Klezmer and Balkan music. The album received an enthusiastic reaction from the (international) press and led to a year of heavy touring and playing gigs in clubs and theatres including world famous Concertgebouw Amsterdam and venues in New York, Moscow, Paris and Hamburg.

Nowadays only part of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band repertory consists of traditionals of Balkan or Klezmer origin. Most of the AKB repertory has been created by the band members themselves, who all without exception contribute musically to an ever-growing melting-pot of infectious Balkan/Gypsy/Klezmer cross-over grooves. In this manner the band endeavours to breathe new life into the Eastern-European Balkan, Klezmer and Gypsy music tradition. Passionate performances, spectacular live shows and a good dose of street credibility form the ingredients of their cocktail.

STAN RIJVEN,
JOURNALIST WORKING FOR DUTCH TV, RADIO & PRESS
Mix a helping of Klezmer with a portion of Ska, add a liberal dash of Balkan and a pinch of Gypsy. Garnish with a tablespoon of Jazz and a pinch of Punk. Throw it all in the blender and the recipe for the Amsterdam Klezmer Band is complete. Serve immediately!

Their vette (throbbing) Klezmer/Balkan style never fails to leave the audience well and truly ‘klezmerised’. As the wind instruments, double-bass, accordion and percussion join battle with pulsating grooves full of raw refinement, you know you are in for a long and sweaty evening; be it in a small club in Canada or Turkey or at large festivals such as Sziget in Hungary or Lowlands in the Netherlands. According to saxophonist and band leader Job Chajes, it’s all about the “age-old cross-fertilisation of Hassidic, Balkan and Turkish influences, but in a modern context”.

The band members have been plucked both from the street and the conservatory, and have paid their dues within a range of other styles such as Jazz, Funk and Latin. “That’s why the wind section can switch so effortlessly between Jamaican Ska and Serbian Bleh music” according to Chajes.

Their secret lies in the surprisingly natural mix of deep-seated tradition and contemporary avant-garde. Trumpet player Gijs Levelt: “Some purists think that we’re not nearly traditional enough, and yet the early Klezmorim themselves incorporated the hits of the day into their own repertoire”.

It is precisely this ‘omnivore’ approach which allows the band to embody the true spirit of Klezmer. Klezmer is nothing more or less than 19th Century Eastern European dance music for weddings and parties, as played by travelling Jewish musicians who incorporated the musical traditions that they came across into their music.

The Amsterdam Klezmer Band has been based in Mokum (Yiddish for Amsterdam), itself once the ‘Jerusalem of the North’, since 1996 and is now celebrating the Klezmer tradition on a Global scale. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the brushing aside of the Iron Curtain, Amsterdam has once again become a magnet to musicians from Eastern Europe. Singer Alec Kopyt, who came to Amsterdam from Odessa, is a good example: “If someone had told me 28 years ago back in the Ukraine that I, a 19 year old rock freak, would end up performing the traditional music of my fatherland and would actually learn to love it, I’d have laughed in their face”. This was his comment in 2006 on the release of the album ‘Remixed!’. Kopyt is once again the front man for the new album, acting as a bridge between the two harbour cities of Odessa and Amsterdam. Now and again Chajes takes over the microphone to sing lines such as: “I was born in a town that was built on stilts and where you can eat gefilte fish”.

This much is clear: They may be based in Amsterdam, but together they form an international outfit that stands for much more than Klezmer alone. The new CD is a boisterous testimonial to this. In fact, they might as well have been called the Amsterdam Klezmore Gang: Thanks to them, the whole mishpocha now laughs when it used to cry.

LINE UP
Jasper de Beer: double bass, guitar banjo, backing vocals
Job Chajes: alto saxophone, vocals
Alec Kopyt: vocals, percussions
Gijs Levelt: trumpet
Joop van der Linden: trombone, percussions
Janfie van Strien: clarinet, backing vocals
Theo van Tol: accordion

2006/2007- The Amsterdam Klezmer Band REMIXED! Project
featuring CMON & KYPSKI
The AKB and the ‘unbeatable Masters of turntable’, Cmon & Kypski, have met in a sublime collision. Their REMIXED! tour began in februari 2007. The 2 groups collaborated previously in 2006 and set off a divine spark. The combination of Balkan-revitalisers and elektronica-virtuosos was a success at their try out gigs at the club Vera , Groningen and the Robodock Festival, Amsterdam. Members of both bands also appeared as guest musicians on their respective latest albums. (“Where the wild Things are”-Penoze 2007 and “Amsterdam Klezmer Band remixed”-Essay 2006) The “Remixed” Tour appeared at clubs and festivals in NL and Abroad: Berlin/Arena, Parijs / Club Nouveau Casino, Cologne /Gebaude 9 (this Show has been broadcasted live by WDR), Nurnberg/Bardentreffen, Contrabanda festival/Paradiso and the infamous Oerol Festival. -The “Remixed” Show also appeared live at Dutch national radio on “Vpro’s 10 voor 12” - Shantel’s Remix “Sagadora Hotdub” produced from the AKB tune “SON” became a true Balkan beat Club hit. -"Sagadora Hotdub", an AKB remix by DJ Shantel appeared at the new Putumayo compilation “GYPSY Grooves “, released March 2007. Extra: the AKB appeared at several editions of the new Cmon & Kypski live Show “Cmon & kypski’s Circus “ High lights were the shows at Pinkpop 2007 and Lowlands 2007.

-The band played in the USA, Canada, Russia, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Portugal, Hungary * Sziget festival, Italy, Turkey.

Sample of past releases
- Mesjogge (MC 1996)
- Leib in de pijp (MC, 1997)
- De Amsterdam Klezmer Band (MC and CD 1999)
- Mala Loka (cd, Syncoop 5760 CD 2460)
- Limonchiki (cd, Knitting Factory -KFW300)
- Katakofti (with Galata Gypsie band) Kalan records
- SON (Connecting Cultures 2005)
- Amsterdam Klezmer Band Remixed (Essay Recordings 2006)
- ZARAZA (Essay Recordings 2008)

Sample of past national performances
- NPS- cultuurprijs, dutch national television
- Joodse Omroep Documentary National TV 2006
- Noorderslag festival 2001, Groningen, Netherlands
- Melkweg Amsterdam 2000,2002, 2004, 2005
- Paradiso Amsterdam, 2000, 2001, 2005
- Festival "De Parade " Amsterdam 2005, 2006
- Oerol festival 2004 and 2007
- Festival Mundial 2007 - North sea jazz 2002 and 2007
- Club Lek, VPRO dutch national radio
- 3 voor 12 national radio 2006, 2007
- Barend & van Dorp dutch national tv
- Lowlands Festival 2001, 2006
- Concertgebouw Amsterdam 2003, 2005, 2007

Past performances, international
- Tour Turkey 1999-2004
- Tour in Slovenia 1999
- Tour Switzerland 2000, 2006,2007
- Tour Austria 2006-2008
- Tour Italy 2000
- Tour Germany 2005 - 2008
- Tour Portugal 2006, 2007
- Tour France 2004-2008
- New York USA Music and Heritage festival 2004
- Klezmerfest Moscow 2005
- Dranouter festival Belgium 2005
- Ashkenaz festival Toronto Canada 2006
- Singerfestival Warsaw Poland 2006
- Klezmore festival Vienna 2006, 2008
- Slovakia 2006 - Belgium 2006-2008
- Sziget Festival Budapest 2007
- North Sea Jazz 2007
- Bardentreffen Nurnberg 2007
- Torino Italy Olympic Games 2007
- Radio WDR 5 live broadcasting Cologne New Year’s Eve Party 2007
- Luxembourg 2007
- Tour Latvia 2007