Buoyant and mellow
Originally, klezmer music was part of the pre-war Jewish culture in Eastern Europe and was clearly the music being played in weddings and parties. The purpose of it was to get people to dance, a quality urban tunélls klezmerband preserves very well. Yet, the atmosphere throughout their gigs shifts from cheerful and intense to mellow and tender.
The clarinet player Morten Michelsen was the one who came across the music and felt the urge to express it his own way. The varied backgrounds of the exceptionally skilled musicians range from classical and jazz to gypsy music and folk rock. In addition to the clarinet, the band's line up consists of accordion - Jovan Pavlovic, piano and vocals - Tor-Petter Aanes, double bass - Sondre Meisfjord.
Blend
Klezmer music arose in the Jewish communities in Poland, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. The songs from the synagogues blended with the respective country's folk traditions. The Eastern European rhythms were coloured by expressive Jewish music, and the result was a music style bonding with Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Klezmer was not played in the synagogues; hence it is not a religious form of music. The practitioners were self-trained, travelling musicians who belonged to the low class. The music bears resemblance with gypsy music and Balkan tunes, yet it possesses a characteristic, musical style.
Constant development
After the Second World War the klezmer music was practically extinct in its original form. In our time the klezmer music has recovered, mainly in the USA and Western Europe. From being a simple kind of folk music it has developed to a popular world music style being played on the big stages. urban tunélls klezmerband is one of the very few Norwegian bands performing klezmer music. The pianist, Tor-Petter Aanes, sings the original lyrics in fluent Yiddish with his exquisitely dazzling baritone voice. The songs depict the everyday life in the Jewish communities, expressing sorrow and agony, but also hope and good spirits. The audience gets entirely carried away by the great atmosphere amid the virtuosos performing this energetic and extraordinary music.
The story about the band
Morten and Tor-Petter were based in Trondheim during spring 2000. They spent more than one evening in their favourite pub Baklandet Skydsstation, dreaming about the future. Morten had been studying in Paris, and felt the urge to start playing the kind of music he had heard in Paris, the klezmer music. He had got hold of "The Jewish Fake Book", and Tor-Petter was joining him willingly. Shortly, they started playing with a third person, the bass player Ole Morten. During that time, Tor-Petter one night awoke from a dream in which he had been giving birth to a baby boy. Strangely, everyone seemed to know that the boy was to be named Urban Tunéll. The trio was then called
urban tunnels klezmerensemble , after Tor-Petter's 'dreamborn' son.
Their hangout at that time, Baklandet Skydsstation, was the obvious choice to have their live debut, and subsequently the band played there regularly on the popular Sunday gigs. One night they were playing, the Jewish Community in Trondheim had sent a large delegation to the gig. Due to the intimate, cramped space the pub offered, it was already packed in the space at the time the Jews arrived. Frustratingly disappointed, yet constant, the Jews were determined to experience this klezmer bloom.. They simply arranged a klezmer party in the Synagogue, and hired urban tunélls klezmerband to play. The success was the beginning of a long-term relationship, which is still going strong..
In 2004 the band got it's current line up, and the name changed from urban tunnels klezmerensemble to urban tunélls klezmerband. |
