Sunday, Dec 30, 2007

The Famed "Philadelphia Shers"

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(Photo courtesy Alan Lankin)




Performed live, warts and all, for the benefit of the dancers at this year's KlezKamp. The Elaine Hoffman-Watts ensemble, featuring Susan Watts on trumpet. Mike Cohen, Dan Blacksburg, Adrian Banner, Henry Sapoznik, Ken Maltz and Mark Rubin round out the band.

Playing for the dancers, this marks the first time in many years that the 88 bar dance tune has been performed outside of its native Philadelphia.

(See video of the actual dance at the Klez Kamp Blog site!)

A studio recording of this and many other tunes was made by this very ensemble during the week and should be available at least by next year's event.

"Shall we do it again?"

Elaine Hoffman Watts is a third-generation klezmer musician, scion of the great Philadelphia Hoffman family of klezmorim. The first woman percussionist to be accepted at Curtis Institute, from which she graduated in 1954, Watts has performed and taught for more than forty years, working in symphonies, theaters, and schools. Despite her skills and family heritage, when she was young Ms. Watts was seldom given opportunities to perform by klezmer bands, from the 1940s on: they didn't want to employ a girl, even Jacob Hoffman's daughter. Ms. Watts began performing klezmer actively again with her daughter Susan Watts. She is a 2007 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship Award.

Susan Watts represents the youngest generation of a Klezmer dynasty that reaches back to the Jewish Ukraine of the 19th century, beginning with her great grandfather, bandleader Joseph Hoffman. She works and records with a range of talented musicians including her mother Elaine Hoffman Watts, Frank London and the Klezmer Brass All-Stars, Mikveh, anad the KlezDispensers.


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