Klezmer Bands from Across the State Gathering for KlezMitten Festival Sept. 15
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Aug. 25, 2024)
Detroit, MI – Traditional Jewish folk music, known as Klezmer, will be on full display Sept 15 at the KlezMitten Festival hosted by the International Institute in Midtown Detroit. Bands from across the state will play and dance in celebration of this Jewish tradition.
Klezmer comes from the Hebrew words “kley,” meaning vessel and “zemer” meaning melody, and this term has been used to describe traditional folk music since the Middle Ages.
Alan Posner is the Director of Bands at Bloomfield Hills High School and also the founder of Klezundheit, a band with a dozen members from around the Metro Detroit Area. It started as a family band with his wife and his father among the members back in 2012. Posner plays soprano sax and his wife plays the flute.
Also in Klezundheit is Howard Collens, attorney by day, and trombonist when he gathers to play with his friends. He says their music “is full of feeling. It can be both sorrowful and joyful. We put our hearts into it.”
Posner said the group has played for a variety of audiences, including synagogues, libraries, and festivals like the Ferndale Porch Festival and Royal Oak’s Arts, Beats, and Eats. “We played at a Pistons game once,” he said. “That was really memorable.”
Collens added “Some of the highest impact we do is at weddings. There’s so much emotion and joy.”
Those who may not be immediately familiar with Klezmer music might remember it from movie scenes of Jewish weddings where the the happy couple’s chairs are lifted above the dancing crowd.
The KlezMitten event is believed to be the first of it’s kind in the state, and the hope is to make it an annual event. Klezundheit will be performing along with Lansing-based Heartland Klezmorim, and two bands from Ann Arbor: Schmaltz Klezmer-Funk, and Klezmephonic.
Food will be available at this event provided by Small World Kitchen. There will also be some pre-packaged Kosher snacks for sale.
$20 – General Admission…Kids under 12 are FREE. Get tickets now before they sell out!
More info and tickets: Ludus .
