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'Fiddler On The Roof' Sing-A-Long Allows For Sharing Of Traditions

Ariel Van Cleave
/
KPLU
The members of Orkestyr Farfeleh practice the songs they will play on Dec. 25.

While some are unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day, others may be heading to Seattle’s SIFF Cinema Uptown to take part in a "Fiddler on the Roof" sing-a-long.

The gathering includes a kosher Chinese meal and a performance by the klezmer band, Orkestyr Farfeleh. And while the event will definitely be entertaining, members of the band hope people learn a little something too.

The members of Orkestyr Farfeleh are Harvey Niebulski on accordion, Thaddeus Spae on guitarron and Marianne Tatom on clarinet.

Marianne has been playing with Harvey and Thaddeus for the last several years. She says people often think it’s “cool” when she tells them she plays in a klezmer band. But they don’t always know exactly what that is.

“And then you say, ‘oh, the high, shrill, Eastern European clarinet, fiddle. And they go ‘oh, yeah, that.’ I know exactly what klezmer is,’” she said.

Those high notes aren't the only thing that defines klezmer. It can also get your toe tapping. You’re not supposed to sit still while this music is playing. Thaddeus says that energy is what he loves most about klezmer.

“I’ve always been attracted to music that rocks, and klezmer rocks. It is, in fact, high energy music, even though an awful lot of it gets very sentimental, too,” he said. 

And that’s what pulls Harvey in: the heart. The klezmer style, with its oral tradition and Yiddish lyrics, gives him ties to the culture he grew up with as a boy living in the Bronx.

“I get to talk about that world that’s kind of gone. You know, I mean, we can learn about it and read about it, but we can’t visit it physically anymore. We can visit it through this, and talk about the tunes, where they come from,” he said.

Harvey says "Fiddler on the Roof" is a pretty good crash course on what life was like for Jewish people in Eastern Europe, and he’s glad to be sharing those traditions with Jews and gentiles alike.