Return of the Kugels – October 2024

The Kugels Klezmer Ensemble played in Greytown two years ago, and by popular demand will be back in Greytown on 13 October. 

Former NZSO players Ross Harris (accordion), Robin Perks (violin), Debbie Rawson (clarinet, sax and “xaphon”), and Nick Tipping (double bass), plus versatile and charismatic singer Anna Gawn, will provide 90 minutes of wild, passionate and haunting Klezmer music, ranging from ancient traditional tunes to compositions from Ross Harris.

Klezmer is the folk idiom of the Jewish and Eastern European people. What makes Klezmer music unique is the soulful wailing and joyful exuberance that comes in turn from the instruments.

Paul Serotsky of Whangarei: “I was mesmerised from the moment the first note sounded. The Kugels had us, figuratively, and sometimes literally, speaking, weeping into our hankies one minute, and waving said hankies aloft the next! It was real ‘knock your socks off’ stuff – a driving pulse from the ‘engine room’, the violin and woodwind variously soaring and skirling, strutting and whirling, brimming fit to burst with teeming vitality: this was indeed the rhythm of life!”

A Geraldine reviewer said: “This amazing ensemble gave a concert of rare quality that would grace any of the top auditoria worldwide.” 

The Cookes agree with this, having attended a klezmer concert in Budapest a few years ago. Ed: “First we had to queue up to be x-rayed, and Juliet’s handbag was searched. I was given a yamulke to wear on my bald head, and provided with a bobby pin to secure it in place!” 

“The music was not up to the Kugels’ standard, but the concert did end with a Horah dance to the tune of Hava Nagila, led by the oldest women in the audience.”

The Kugels have recently toured Wanaka and Arrowtown, and several North Island venues, and are

looking forward to performing in Greytown. Debbie: “We will thrill you with an intoxicating mix of cutting edge art song, laced with high edge folk, wild improvisation, and a zesty world premiere!”

Kugels Klezmer Ensemble: 4:00 p.m. Sunday 13 October, at 57 Wood St, Greytown. Admission $30, children $10. Bookings: contact Ed and Juliet Cooke on 06 304 9497 or efjacooke@gmail.com

Caption: Kugels Klezmer Ensemble – (from left): Debbie Rawson, Anna Gawn, Ross Harris, Nick

Tipping, Robin Perks.