Rocking Yiddish

On the seventh floor of a Colonia del Valle apartment building in Mexico City, a viola sounds an ancient Jewish mode while bongos pound a Latin beat. The band Klezmerson is rehearsing among African instruments and tangles of amp wires.

Image:Rebecca Huval

The band Klezmerson does tradition with a twist.

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Rebecca Huval

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Once the song ends, band director Benny Shwartz announced that a folk ensemble refused to play with Klezmerson.

"It's tradition against rock ‘n' roll!" interrupts guitarist Juan Cubas Fridman as he strums his instrument, bobbing his dreadlock ponytail.

Klezmerson identifies more with rock ‘n' roll rebellion than the traditional Hasidic music played by the other band, the only other DF group playing klezmer music, an ancient Yiddish dance genre.

Shwartz, the only band member who is actually Jewish, directs his fellow musicians to the syncopated beats of his ancestors and the swing of son jarocho. He has played the piano and viola since he was old enough to read, performed with the Orquesta Sinfónica Carlos Chávez, and studied composition at The Musicians' Institute in Hollywood, California, and the Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música in Mexico City. Despite all his classical training, Shwartz prefers the freedom of Klezmerson.

"I played in the Sinfonía Carlos Chavez for five years, and then I said, ‘That's enough!'" Shwartz says. "When you're in an orchestra, you learn a lot, but it's the life of a soldier. You have to read, read, read." He mimes viola playing with his right hand and page flipping with his left. "I like to compose. I like creativity. I think it's better to write music and do my own projects."

During rehearsal, the lack of orchestrated military discipline is evident. Shwartz sticks his tongue out at the flautist, María Emilia Martínez, and makes her laugh. She slips off her shoes, revealing a butterfly tattoo, and balances on her bare toes. The bassist stares out the window.

Shwartz calls himself a rebel: "I resisted Judaism, so I didn't find Klezmer through religion. I found those roots inside of myself, and that makes it more interesting. Klezmer is a part of my internal exploration. It wasn't a reunion with my parents so much as with my ancestors."

Klezmer music developed during the 1400s in Eastern Europe, experiencing a 1990s revival in Jewish communities in San Francisco and New York. Shwartz discovered the genre while he was playing in a Greek folk music ensemble in 2003. A musician visiting from New York introduced him to it.