Tzimmes celebrates 40

This summer, Tzimmes celebrated its 40th anniversary. Band members from far and wide, old and new, gathered in Vancouver on Aug. 17 to mark the occasion with food, laughter and, of course, a little music. The Vancouver ensemble is known for its range of Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi styles.

“In the context of the 40th, we’re doing a whole bunch of things as far as the group is concerned. It’s a dissemination project, an opportunity for people to discover or rediscover, as it may be, the music of Tzimmes,” founder and bandleader Moshe Denburg told the Independent.

On Aug. 7, for example, Tzimmes released Sweeter and Hotter on digital streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify and Bandcamp. That album, released in 2022, is a remastered version of Sweet and Hot, a 1993 recording that – thanks in part to an interview with Robert Siegel on NPR’s All Things Considered after its release – put Tzimmes on the musical map.

“We always felt that we were constrained by a simpler technology back in 1993, and that certain aspects of the mix could be improved – vocals could be clearer, instruments brought into better relation and so on,” Denburg said. “Looking around, I found a fine facility in Red Bank, NJ, that specialized in transferring old reel-to-reels to a digital format. The tapes of Sweet and Hot, though old, transferred wonderfully to digital tracks.”

Sweeter and Hotter features “Yossel Yossel,” “Adon Olam,” “Odessa Bulgarish,” “Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen” and “Shein Vi Di Levone,” as well as original compositions, such as “Matai Tagia Eit Lashalom” and “The Book of Life.”

Other albums released by Tzimmes over the years include A Lid for Every Pot (1995), KlezMyriad (1998) and The Road Never Traveled (2021).

Reflecting on the past 40 years, Denburg said, “Truth is, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge. I think there’s been … very distinct periods. The first, from 1986 to around 1990, I was living in Victoria and I just started this thing because I wanted a vehicle to make some music. We did very nicely. The Folk Music Society really loved us. And we did several gigs.”

Victoria-based performer Gary Cohen, an original Tzimmes member, who, with Amber Woods, forms the duo Kouskous, was on hand for the anniversary celebration in August. Denburg was Cohen’s guitar teacher in Montreal in the 1970s and later became a mentor and friend. For a time, they shared an apartment while Cohen was a student at McGill.

When Cohen headed to Victoria, Denburg followed shortly thereafter. They asked Dick Lurie (flute) and Julian Siegel (accordion, MIDI accordion) to join them in creating a band focusing on Jewish music.

“One of the things that I remember about playing with Moshe was how we would enjoy combining musical influences – for example, adding a Greek musical style to French Canadian folk songs,” said Cohen, who played guitar and darabuka and sang in the ensemble.

“Gigs at the Victoria Folk Music Society gave Tzimmes a good start as a band,” he added. “In 1988, 

Tzimmes was invited to perform on a double bill with Vancouver’s Shalom Dancers for an event at the Gateway Theatre in Richmond.”

In the early 1990s, Denburg moved to Vancouver, where Tzimmes regrouped as a trio and then grew, as several musicians found their way to the ensemble.

At present, Tzimmes consists of Denburg (guitar and lead vocals), Yona Bar-Sever (guitar, vocals), Saul Berson (alto sax, clarinet, flute), Tim Stacey (bass), Phil Belanger (drums, percussion), Amy Stephen (accordion, penny whistle, vocals) and Fabiana Katz (vocals).

It would be remiss, Denburg said, not to highlight the participation of Myrna Rabinowitz (vocals) and Siegel, both of whom made indelible contributions to the group’s first three albums, and in performances from 1992 to 2003.

Other notable musicians who have played with Tzimmes over the years include guitarist, pianist and composer Itamar Erez; bassists Danny Parker and Doug Stephenson; Margaret Taylor on violin; and the late Adel Awad, master Arabic and Latin percussionist.

Awad passed away in 2007 at 51 due to complications from lupus. Lurie died in a car accident in 1994 at age 52. 

Beyond Tzimmes, Denburg is the founder of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO), in 2001, and he has been involved in its activities ever since. He continues to explore and create compositions that challenge musicians of differing disciplines to work together across aural/written cultural divides and to find a common esthetic. He has written many small- and large-scale works for a variety of instruments from India, China, Japan and the Middle East, which have been performed, recorded and broadcast in Canada and abroad. He has received many Canada Council grants and commissions, and is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre. He has traveled extensively, living and studying in the United States, Israel, India and Japan.

For more on Tzimmes, visit tzimmes.net. 

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.