David Krakauer was recently a guest in Brussels to perform a breathtaking concert with Kathleen Tagg during Ars Musica. The day before the concert, David managed to find a moment to speak to me. Many themes were discussed. In the background, we hear people passing by from time to time.
Only a select few artists have the ability to convey their message to the back row, to galvanize an audience with a visceral power that connects on a universal level. David Krakauer is such an artist.
Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet with his own unique sound and approach, he has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music.
Krakauer began his journey with the music of his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage at the end of the 1980s as the Berlin Wall was falling, and culture from “behind the Iron Curtain” began to emerge in the West. Inspired by these massive cultural shifts, he began to explore klezmer music as he sought to connect with his Jewish identity in a deeper way. He very quickly became a creator in his own right; first as a member of the ground-breaking band “The Klezmatics” (that launched the second klezmer revival of the early 90s), then as an integral part of John Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture movement, and ultimately as a composer, soloist, and band leader in the klezmer genre. He recently began composing and producing music for film, and 2020 saw him composing his first score with Kathleen Tagg for the full-length feture film (Minyan by Eric Steel). His second score in 2020 was for Jeremy Kagan’s animated short, Haftorahs. Haftorahs is an animated movie based on a series of drawings that are a response to each of the Haftorah portions read chronologically throughout the year.
Playlist :
Conlon Nancarrow, Continuum : Trio (Continuum Performs Nancarrow - Musicmasters - 1991)
Krakauer & Tagg : Parzial: Breath & Hammer Version (Breath & Hammer - Table Pounding Records - 2020) (compo John Zorn)
John Zorn : Shtetl (Ghetto Life)(Kristallnacht - Eva - 1993)
David Krakauer : The Ballad Of Chernobyl (Klezmer Madness!! - Tzadik - 1995 )
David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness! : Bechet In The Roumanian Wine Cellar (Klezmer, NY - Tzadik - 1998)
The Klezmatics : Clarinet Yontev - DK's Doyna / Batlonim Tants (Dance Of The Lazy) / Heyser Bulgar (Hot Bulgar) (Rhythm + Jews - Piranha - 1991)
The Klezmatics : Fisherlid (Jews With Horns - Xenophile Records - 1994)
David Krakauer : Drum And Hornpipe: Poll Ha'Penny (Mazel Tov Cocktail Party - Table Pounding Records - 2022)
John Zorn / Masada Chamber Ensembles : Mahshav & Paran (Bar Kokhba - Tzadik - 1996)
Mikel Rouse Broken Consort : Friendship '84 (1984) (A Walk In The Woods- Made To Measure Vol.6 - Crammed Discs - 1985)
Picture David Krakauer © Colette Benjamin