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Isle of Klezbos: soulful, fun-loving powerhouse all-women's klezmer sextet

NYC-based ISLE of KLEZBOS approaches tradition with irreverence and respect. The soulful, fun-loving powerhouse all-women's klezmer sextet has toured from Vienna to Vancouver since 1998. Band repertoire ranges from rambunctious to entrancing: neo-traditional folk dance, mystical melodies, Yiddish swing & retro tango, late Soviet-era Jewish drinking songs, re-grooved standards, and genre-defying originals. ISLE of KLEZBOS concert footage has been broadcast internationally on CBS Sunday Morning, Showtime The L Word, and PBS In The Life. Read more about the band …

Our album זילבערנער קינאָ Yiddish Silver Screen has dropped

Theater Billboard anounces Isle of Klezbos & Friends Yiddish Silver Screen

Totally enjoying. Love the style hopping from cut to cut. I’m completely digging 'Libes Shmertsn.'
— Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director, National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene

» BUY THE ALBUM at Bandcamp!
» FIND Streaming options on Hear Now

Sold Out/Boston, Delray & NYC

Isle of Klezbos played sold out hometown & tour shows for our Yiddish Silver Screen release at Joe's Pub (NYC's Public Theater cabaret), followed by our Florida tour opener at Arts Garage, and the band's debut at City Winery Boston.

isle of klezbos and friends perform at joes pub 12-2023 photo: Hank Gans.jpg
Isle of Klezbos celebrated the band's Silver (25th) anniversary for a full house at Joe's Pub. Guest accordion virtuoso /pianist Ilya Shneyveys graced this special show. Photo: Hank Gans

Isle of Klezbos video playlist

Watch our new music video for this spooky take on Abi Gezunt: Molly's Cautionary Tale as reinterpreted on track 5 of our new album, Yiddish Silver Screen, featuring guest vocal duo Rachel Weston & Annie Cohen, video created by the incredible Alona Bach.

Yiddish Popular Culture

Yiddish Film Music programs: Harvard, Detroit & Brattleboro

From our Klezbos sextet cine-concert kicking off Detroit Jewish Film Festival (Hidden Musical Gems from Yiddish Soundtracks), to our multi-media quartet show for Brattleboro VT's Epsilon Spires with historic pipe organ and giant screen, to bandleader Eve Sicular's 2024 lecture at Harvard University on Music of the Yiddish Silver Screen for the Center for Jewish Studies — Isle of Klezbos Yiddish film music programs bring fascinating yet often-overlooked soundtrack highlights to new audiences, complete with our unique scholarly insights and spellbinding artistic interpretations.

And Just Like That... Seeing the Light

Did you catch the Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer bandmembers in HBO Max's episode #10, season #1 finale of AJLT, the Sex and the City sequel? Our trio plays They Mitzve scene. Check out our 'behind the scene' pictures on our instagram feed.

With Gregg Bordowitz at MoMA PS1

In September 2021, Isle of Klezbos joined as the houseband for Gregg Bordowitz in his three-part performance Benyamin Zev's Succos Spectacular! at MoMA PS1. You can watch all three shows on YouTube: Night 1, Night 2, Night 3.

Press Bits

Lucid Culture: Our bands are the P-Funk of klezmer! by delarue for NY Music Daily

And Roz Chast loves Isle of Klezbos!

» NEWS ARCHIVE

Isle of Klezbos: J. Edgar Klezmer: songs from my Grandmother's FBI files

J. EDGAR KLEZMER: Songs from My Grandmother's FBI Files — musical documentary theater adventure, by grandchild & bandleader Eve Sicular. more

Isle of Klezbos and Eve Sicular: Yiddish Celluloid Closet

Yiddish cinema as you've never seen it, plus live reinterpretations of movie music from the vintage soundtracks! more

PHOTO CREDIT Angela Jimenez