Search - Alicia Svigals :: Fidl

Voice of Klezmer: the Violin

Erika Borsos | Gulf Coast of FL, USA | 01/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the hands of Alicia Svigals: the violin sings, weeps, laughs, cries, and otherwise mimics the human voice ... Alicia has shown the klezmer fiddle to be of equal value to the clarinet in this genre. The Jewish tunes are haunting, lively, energetic and beautiful! She has mastered her instrument & uses multiple playing styles and techniques: a virtuoso. Although klezmer is *most* often dominated by the sounds of the clarinet: there is no playing "second fiddle here"!!! She is a "primas" or "first fiddler" in every sense of the words!!! :-) Other instruments which are the 'supporting cast' to the violin: are the tsimbl (cimbalom), accordion, occasionally a second fiddle, a bass, and drums. Most of the music is traditional & orginates from Romania, the Ukrainian, Turkey, Greece, Moldavia, & Bessarabia (former Soviet Union). There is a tremendous composition that Alicia herself created for a musical play: it fits all the criteria for great klezmer. Most of the tracks are her interpretations of originals from 78 records of the 1920s - 1950s. Some tracks are wedding music, others are of Hassidic origin, others are music for the Sabbath. There are bulgars, doinas, horas, freylekhs, a zmiro (hymn), a hora batuta and a hybrid "bulgarish-frelekh". The liner notes state the Greeks adapted the last one into a hassapiko. The liner notes are very extensive and helpful. They explain technical details related to the typical musical scales used in klezmer: the "Ahavo Rabo" and Ukrainian scales. The latter resembles the music of the Aegean coast from Greece & Turkey, going all the way up the Balkan peninsula to the Ukraine. This is very special cultural music that allows for a wide range of improvisational capability by the right musician: Alicia Svigals has proven to be among the best! This CD is magnificent! Erika Borsos (erikab93)."