Putumayo Presents: A Jewish Celebration

Liner Note Author: Jacob Edgar.
On A Jewish Celebration, Putomayo employs its trademark approach to assembling a wide yet representative variety of the music of the global Jewish diaspora. Collecting 13 songs that range from the familiar and traditional (or at least neo-traditional) to original numbers, the stylistic diversity is quite startling. Some artists are instantly recognizable, such as the Klezmer Conservatory Band, who deliver a killer reading of Mickey Katz's "The Dreydl Song," and Julie Silver, who offers a bossa nova version of Levin Kipnis' "Si'Von Sov, Sov, Sov." The Ugandan Abayudaya Congregation performs one of their own ceremonial songs entitled "Hinei Ma Tov," and "Vehistakel," by Zera Emet's reggae band Kayama. World-renowned German vocalist Karsten Troyke hearkens back to the folk tradition with "Dus Gezang Fin Mayn Harts," Alisa Fineman delivers a tango in "Ocho Kandelikas," and King Django throws down ska with "Heveinu Shalom Aleichem."