#5180, The Klezmatics, Live on Soundcheck

New Sounds | Sep 9

The Klezmatics have never been just a klezmer band. From their beginnings 40 years ago, they’ve fused klezmer music, rooted in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, with the sounds of jazz, psychedelia, Latin music, punk energy, gospel fervor, global rhythms, and even ambient music. They’re also a band whose music rises to meet the moment, from their debut album Shvaygn = Toyt, silence equals death, released during the height of the AIDS epidemic, to their latest album, which is a 40th-anniversary statement called We Were Made For These Times. It uses music as activist art to speak to questions of immigration, labor, and belonging - answering with urgency, care, faith, community, and collective action, (Bandcamp liner notes). The Klezmatics play some of these anthemic songs of resilience and joy, in-studio. -Caryn Havlik

Program #5180, The Klezmatics, Live on Soundcheck (First aired 9/9/26)

ARTIST: The Klezmatics, Joshua Nelson and Lavender Light Gospel Choir
WORK: We Were Made For These Times [2:53]
RECORDING: We Were Made For These Times 
SOURCE: Shamus Records
INFO: klezmatics.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: The Klezmatics
WORK: Un du akerst [3:55]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, May 2026
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on We Were Made For These Times

ARTIST: The Klezmatics, Enver Izmaylov
WORK: Crimean Freylekhs [1:40]
RECORDING: We Were Made For These Times 
SOURCE: Shamus Records
INFO: klezmatics.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: The Klezmatics
WORK: Elegy for the Innocents [5:33]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, May 2026
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on We Were Made For These Times

ARTIST: The Klezmatics
WORK: Di tsukunft (El Futuro) [1:56]
RECORDING: We Were Made For These Times 
SOURCE: Shamus Records
INFO: klezmatics.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: The Klezmatics
WORK: Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee) [4:19]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, May 2026
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on We Were Made For These Times

ARTIST: The Klezmatics, Joshua Nelson and Lavender Light Gospel Choir
WORK: We Were Made For These Times [1:29]
RECORDING: We Were Made For These Times 
SOURCE: Shamus Records
INFO: klezmatics.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: The Klezmatics, Joshua Nelson and Lavender Light Gospel Choir
WORK: Forty Year Freylekhs [5:41]
RECORDING: We Were Made For These Times 
SOURCE: Shamus Records
INFO: klezmatics.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Taraf de Haïdouks
WORK: Turceasca [5:41]
RECORDING: Taraf de Haïdouks
SOURCE: Nonesuch / Crammed Discs
INFO: Try Discogs.com

ARTIST: 3 Mustaphas 3
WORK: Sitna Lisa [1:27]
RECORDING: Heart of Uncle
SOURCE: Rykodisc #20156
INFO: Try Amazon.com

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