Ensemble M’chaiya™ / Modal Music, Inc.™

Description

With uplifting energy that puts your soul in touch with your soles, Chicagoland’s first revival Klezmer band gets everyone’s heart and feet dancing to Klezmer tunes set to Balkan Gypsy grooves. You will boogie to rhythmic Sephardic songs sung in a 500-year-old form of Spanish, swing to Yiddish and Big-Band songs, and fly along to upbeat Israeli dance tunes. (Band members lead the fun yet simple traditional line and circle dances while playing!!) This eclectic, energetic, and innovative Klezmer ensemble truly lives up to the meaning of its name, "a life-giving pleasure", by transporting souls of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds across cultural borders.

The core duet's instrumentation creates a colorful, ever-changing spectrum of sound with kaval (Balkan end-blown wooden flute), mandolin, violin, two guitars, Balkan percussion, and two vocalists / dance leaders. When requested, male-only vocals are available.

Want a bigger band? This flexible group can range from a duet up to a quintet to match your budget.

“We enjoyed the concert very much. Everybody loved the music and the dancing. The interaction was wonderful.... I recommend M’chaiya for good music and a fun time for the whole family.” --Mort Zuckerman, Jewish Cultural Council, Grand Rapids, MI

Work Sample

"Der Rebbe Is Gegangen" Run time: 1:50. Audio recorded 2010-2011, video produced March 31, 2022. The instrumentation for this Klezmer tune includes kaval (Bulgarian end-blown flute), trumpet, guitar, tuba, and drum set. This is the band's own arrangement of a traditional melody. We decided to use a fast, syncopated rhythm from the Balkans instead of the slower original one. Klezmer is the secular dance music from the Eastern European / Balkan Jewish tradition. 

"Ben Seni Severım" Run time: 2:35. Recorded Apr 22, 2020 for our "Lockdown" video series. The chorus is sung in Turkish and the verses in Ladino, the 500-year-old variant of Spanish with a great deal of Hebrew vocabulary. The language was kept alive by the Jews who fled Spain in 1492 and who settled across the Mediterranean basin in Greece, the Balkans, and Turkey. The "karshalama" (also "karsilama"), a rhythm in 9/8 time. Instrumentation is kaval (Bulgarian end-blown flute), darabuka (Balkan hand drum), and tupan (double-headed Balkan drum), alongside guitar.

"L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim" Run time: 3:32. Recorded April 7, 2020 for our "Lockdown" video series. Sung in Hebrew, instrumentation includes kaval (Bulgarian end-blown flute), darabuka (Balkan hand drum), and tupan (double-headed Balkan drum), alongside guitar.

When performed in concert, we invite audiences to sing-along on the chorus and drum-along on band-provided percussion. This is the band's own arrangement of a traditional song typically sung for Passover / Pesach. 

These videos cover three Jewish cultural streams.

Klezmer is the Ashkenazic tradition's secular instrumental dance music. "Der Rebbe Is Gegangen" demonstrates our Balkan-inspired version of Klezmer by interpreting the melody through a Balkan dance rhythm using a Bulgarian end-blown flute for the lead.
 
The band is a quintet here. The images underline our adaptability: we can be a duet or up to seven pieces, depending upon a client's interests / budget. The photos also show some of our other instruments (mandolin, ocarina, saxophone, bass), education programs, Fine Arts concerts, international tours, and how we actively engage audiences with culture. We have thrived in this difficult business for almost 40 years because we deliver an experience that touches and inspires audiences of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities.

"Ben Seni Severım" illustrates the Sephardic tradition (a blend of Spanish and Balkan cultures) with its Balkan 9/8 time "Aksak" ("limping") rhythm, Turkish / Ladino lyrics, Balkan instruments, (kaval, darabuka, tupan), and "Spanish" chord progression.

"L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim", sung in Hebrew, is a holiday song popular during Passover. Our instrumentation reflects Israeli culture's "Middle Eastern" flavor. The scale, "Ahava Rabbah" or "Hijaz", is common to the region.

History

Founded in January 1983, we are Chicagoland's first revival Klezmer band. Mayor Daley, on our 20th anniversary, officially recognized us as such by proclaiming November 23, 2003 "Klezmer Music Revival Day".

The majority of our performances are at private events in the Midwest. That said, we also tour in Europe (Denmark, Switzerland) and across America (California, New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, New York, Illinois).

We perform for both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic streams of Judaism as well as for the general public in concert, at festivals, on radio and TV, in schools, and at universities giving history lectures that blend talk with musical performance to illustrate the points presented.

Two performances stand out in our hearts: 1) performing at a commemoration program on the 50th anniversary of Denmark's saving its Jewish population from the Nazis in WWII (we were chosen because we play both Klezmer AND Danish music); and 2) performing for another Holocaust program that commemorated the White Rose group which, inside Germany, actively resisted the Nazis.

Artistic Vision

"M'chaiya" means "a life-giving pleasure". We live up to that by inspiring and connecting people through innovative interpretations of traditional Jewish music and dance.

Our non-"standard" instrumentation makes us probably the world's most unique Klezmer band, maybe the only one using kaval (Balkan end-blown flute) as a lead instrument alongside mandolin, backed by Balkan percussion (tupan, darabuka).

Unlike other revival bands, I focus on Klezmer's Balkan roots because I was the leader of the N.A.I.R.D. award-winning Balkan Rhythm Band.

Klezmer is the instrumental music of the Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Eastern European / Balkan tradition so Yiddish songs compliment our repertoire.

Traditional Sephardic music's blend of Spanish / Balkan cultures fits naturally into our Balkan-influenced repertoire. Often multilingual, lyrics are in Ladino (Hebrew influenced 500-year-old Spanish), French, Turkish, Hebrew, and various Slavic tongues.

The importance of Israeli culture to American Jews underlines a need for that style, heavily focused on dance music. As dance teachers, we are able to lead Israeli line and circle dances while playing. It is a powerful way of connecting people to each other and to culture itself.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

Since 1980 Terran Doehrer has performed and taught traditional dance to all age groups. Jutta Distler and he teamed up in 1990, eventually becoming staff dance teachers at the Chicago Waldorf School, the Da Vinci Waldorf School, the Waldorf Teacher Institute of Chicago, as well as presenting dance workshops and residencies across America and in Europe at schools and universities.

We have worked many times with Holocaust survivor organizations which led to also working with Senior citizens.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

In 1983, Terran Doehrer created the Ensemble M'chaiya (tm) to begin the Klezmer revival in Chicagoland, to revive the moribund style of Eastern European / Balkan Jewish secular dance music. Educating the Jewish community about its forgotten cultural style was something of an uphill battle given the powerful historic forces that caused the style's demise. Happily, today an event must have a Klezmer band play or it is no event!

The band also serves as a cultural diplomat for the Jewish community to the larger world. The most positive way to combat antisemitism is to get folks actively engaged with a fun and energetic representation of a culture that has been so reviled for centuries.

The beauty of music and dance fosters understanding between cultures.