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CD REVIEW: Tummel - Klezmer
By Ben Ohmart - 11/17/2001 - 05:20 PM EST
Artist: Tummel
Album: Klezmer
CD Review:
Well, when this cd first started to spin and the sax and clarinet began to twirl like stripper nipples, this reviewer at once thought the cds got switched at birth and Spike Jones had infiltrated the speakers here. Or perhaps Frank Zappa's stage crew, finally put in the studio. No. This is Tummel, a group expounding the rather unheard of virtues of 'traditional Jewish party music.' No again, it's not 2 Live Jews. This is World music combined with glass stomping action, yells, screams, and a pace that rather wears a soul out after the first hour.
66 minutes long, this cd is clever instrumentalization that combines every sound from electric guitar to tuba to accordion to flute to laughing children. Some pretty racy rhythms streaming through here. 'Baba Ganoush Overload' is especially adept at eliciting the OY from your lips, while the flute vs. raunchy tuba (that IS a tuba, right?) of 'Leben Zol Palestina' makes it rather a curse to consider yourself genteel. The squeak of the bed (or outside swing), the dog calls, the regal fun that breezes through like a big-nosed circus on its way to a bath is just a delight from morn to night.
However, the best thing about Tummel is their unerring ability to strike a tough balance. Whereas the general public could scoff at the rather 'novelty' situation of Spike Jones, this Tummel is a band that combines more than a mere joke (the lack of vocals - well, lyrics - Could help, but it's more than that) with structured pieces of the traditional vs. the progressive nature of all changing music. Granted, you are meant to laugh at much of it, but the majority is finessing your mind into a world unheard of (unless you really Live in this odd music!). It is taking the straight laces of Sunday school shoes and tying them to a turtle. As the animal slowly creeps along, you wonder if you should laugh constantly or just do a little dance, bit by bit. The choice, tie-wearers, is yours.
But. You would be foolish to steer clear of such an enterprising Tummel as thee.
www.arcmusic.co.uk
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