Search - Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band :: Tsirkus

Formed in 1987 by trumpeter-composer David Buchbinder, the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band has captivated audiences throughout North America and Europe and has become something of an icon in the ensemble's native Toronto. Based in traditional Yiddish klezmer music of Eastern Europe married to modern elements of popular music, the Flying Bulgars' sound is an outrageous brand of jazz-folk that is at once celebratory, irreverent, and grandly stimulating. Tsircus, Yiddish for "circus," is the band's fourth recording and finds the group digging deeper into its Jewish roots while reaching well into the next century. The music is expectedly theatrical: strings weep and soar, horns tittle and blare, accordion creaks and dances. Vocals range from aggressive narrative to tender verse to boisterous refrain while piano and drums create an intriguing interplay of syncopated rhythm and melody. A rollicking good time, Tsircus is all at once the sounds of a wild family reunion, a wedding, a wake, and a union meeting crossed with a carnival. --Paige La Grone