Black Ox Orkestar
Ver Tanzt? CD/LP
Evenly split between instrumentals and vocal tunes, this debut album is a hypnotic blend of pieces pulled from various Eastern European songbooks, along with some originals. Lyrics are in Yiddish and speak forcefully about the bloody history and intractable contradictions of Jewish dispora and 'return'. The record is of appeal to anyone who appreciates melancholy, minor-key melodics and folk music unburdened by antiseptic production and/or cheap sentimentality. Songs range from the propulsive ("Fishelakh in Vaser" explodes with a pumping free-music rhythm section; "Cretan Song" is a staccato Balkan dance; "Ver Tantz?" is an angry, politically-charged Klezmer-punk original) to the sublimely restrained (instrumentals "Shvartze Flamen..." and "Nign"; the brilliant original "Toyte Goyes...", with lyrics taken from a poem by Yiddish writer Itzik Fefer).
