The Music

“Exuberant yet cultured playing” — Sunday Times

The London Klezmer Quartet brings together four exceptional musicians who share a deep respect for the klezmer tradition – the wedding and festive music of 19th-century eastern European Jews – while each bringing their own distinct musical voice to the group.

In a classic klezmer line-up of violin, clarinet and accordion plus the irresistible contralto vocals of double bassist, Indra Buraczewska (she can sing along with Frank Sinatra!), the London Klezmer Quartet bring their audiences from toe-tapping and laughter to tears and back again in moments.

They are all expert musicians, able to transport you in time and space, from nineteenth century eastern Europe, crossing Latvia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Hungary, and landing up in 1950s New York amongst the ritz and glitz of America’s Yiddish Swing scene.

There are songs about Bulbes (potatoes) and Borsht (a hearty, beetroot soup) as well as a Romanian love song, a Latvian table song and a Yiddish drinking song, A Glezele Jaš, (Jas = Vodka); after a glass of this Jaš nothing is quite the same, everything sparkles and shines and your feet start to weave Beigels! Goodbye New York is a song from the 1920s Warsaw Yiddish Theatre, about someone who has fled to the golden land of America but decides to go back to their east European village, where the hens will cry with joy on their return. The LKQ’s rendition of Go Down Moses, the spiritual popularised by Louis Armstrong, is not to be missed!

Whether on major concert stages or in more intimate settings, the quartet connects easily with their audiences, gliding between traditional wedding tunes, Yiddish songs and gems from the golden age of Yiddish theatre, creating programmes that are finely crafted, combining tight ensemble playing with warmth, spontaneity and a generous dose of humour.