Audio By Carbonatix
Jews generally don’t have much to do on Christmas Eve, which is why Jim Bailey and Lost Tribe vocalist/guitarist Hal Aqua started Klezfest two years ago at the Mercury Cafe. This year’s edition will showcase three groups, each with a different approach to klezmer, which is a kind of Jewish party music with Eastern European roots.
The Boulder Klezmer Consort, featuring Sheldon Sands, is a fun, wild band that sticks to straight-ahead klezmer, Aqua explains, while his Lost Tribe tries to stay faithful to the spirit of the music but ramps it up with reggae and hip-hop grooves. The Bloomers, featuring virtuosic violinist Katie Glassman, have a gypsy-swing skew.
“The atmosphere we want to try to create is that you’re just out with your family and everybody you’re related to and people you don’t know, and all of a sudden they’re like your new friends — that’s the kind of feeling we want to give,” Aqua says. “And just one band to the next, just give people a lot of bang for their buck and keep it going for as long as people want to dance and drink.”
Klezfest starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Merc, 2199 California Street. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at mizelmuseum.org.
Tue., Dec. 24, 7:30 p.m., 2013
