{"id":25825,"date":"2017-09-15T03:41:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T10:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=25825"},"modified":"2017-09-14T22:41:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T05:41:08","slug":"the-complexities-of-ruckus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/09\/15\/the-complexities-of-ruckus\/","title":{"rendered":"The complexities of Ruckus"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first listen for a non-aficionado, Beyond the Pale\u2019s Ruckus<\/em> may sound like a klezmer CD. An excellently executed and enjoyable one, with maybe a little more swing than you\u2019ve heard before, but klezmer \u2013 Southeastern European Jewish music, the accordion, violin and clarinet prominent. On second play, however, is that a reggae beat? Did that piece sound like a French folk song in parts? Is that a mandolin?<\/p>\n

Beyond the Pale is known for their fusion of klezmer with jazz, bluegrass, reggae and even classical music. Ruckus<\/em> is the Toronto-based group\u2019s fourth CD. They debuted with Routes<\/em> in 2001. Their live recording, Consensus<\/em> (2004), won three awards and Postcards<\/em> (2009) also won a bunch of awards. While too early to predict, as Ruckus<\/em> was just released in June, it would not be surprising if more awards were on the way.<\/p>\n

Ruckus<\/em> isn\u2019t a wedding dance soundtrack. Though it has upbeat pieces that make you want to whirl around your kitchen as you cook dinner \u2013 \u201cIspravnost Licne Vizue\u201d and \u201cBatuta,\u201d for example \u2013 it evokes a range of emotions. \u201cMoldavsky\u201d has a stately feel, like one of those ballroom waltzes Jane Austen writes about, while \u201cRuckus in Ralia\u201d has a driving beat and a sense of urgency. \u201cAndale\u201d slows things down and has a contemplative feel, while listening to \u201cShutka\u201d will take your imagination to the patio of a Parisian caf\u00e9, with its mournful clarinet and accordion, delicately plucked and wavering mandolin strings, and rich violin tones \u2013 a tune resembling \u201cMy Funny Valentine\u201d seems to make its way into this eclectic composition.<\/p>\n

\u201cOltenilor\u201d sounds like it\u2019d be at home at a hoedown and \u201cBatuta\u201d has a swinging jazz feel to it for the most part, but sounds like a Chassidic niggun at times and morphs into a kind of fast-paced square dance. Both of these songs feature some wicked plucking of the mandolin.<\/p>\n

In Eric Stein\u2019s hands, it\u2019s hard to believe that the mandolin is not a traditional klezmer instrument. His original contribution composition-wise on Ruckus<\/em> is \u201cThe Whole Thing,\u201d the idea for which, he told the CJN<\/em>, he came up with while playing with whole-tone scales. \u201cIt\u2019s got tonality that reflects klezmer and Eastern European folk influences, but it\u2019s also got a funky kind of groove.\u201d And it is definitely based on whole-tone scales.<\/p>\n

Six of the 12 songs on Ruckus<\/em> are originals, while the others are arrangements of traditional melodies. All of the musicians \u2013 Bret Higgins (bass), Milos Popovic (accordion), Martin van de Ven (clarinet) and Aleksandar Gajic (violin) \u2013 either composed an original piece or participated in the arranging. They are a tight ensemble who play around with tempo and style with such ease that the complexity of what they\u2019ve created isn\u2019t what you\u2019ll first notice. And that\u2019s what makes their music so good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first listen for a non-aficionado, Beyond the Pale\u2019s Ruckus may sound like a klezmer CD. An excellently executed and enjoyable one, with maybe a little more swing than you\u2019ve heard before, but klezmer \u2013 Southeastern European Jewish music, the accordion, violin and clarinet prominent. On second play, however, is that a reggae beat? Did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[6773,284],"class_list":["post-25825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-fusion","tag-klezmer"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}