Beyond the Pale is an album by the klezmer band Brave Old World, released in 1994.[2][3] The album title refers to the Pale of Settlement.[4]
Beyond the Pale | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1994 | |||
Genre | Klezmer | |||
Label | Rounder[1] | |||
Producer | Frank Dostal | |||
Brave Old World chronology | ||||
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The album was produced by Frank Dostal.[5] It contains original songs as well as interpretations of traditional Yiddish songs.[6] Founding member Joel Rubin departed the band prior to the recording sessions.[7] The opening and closing tracks, about the fall of the Berlin Wall, were written in 1990.[8][9]
"Rufn Di Kinder Aheym" ("Calling the Children Home") was inspired by the New Orleans cornetist Buddy Bolden.[10] A cimbalom was employed on "Yismekhu".[11] "Di Sapozhkelekh" used the Misheberak scale.[3] Leon Schwartz taught the band a few of Beyond the Pale's songs.[12]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [13] |
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide | [5] |
The Globe and Mail wrote that "the dance tunes are as irresistible as ever, but the underlying spirit is not chutzpah or even nostalgia so much as a deep sadness and urgent compassion."[14] The Washington Post concluded that "much of the recording might be described as a meditation on the art of playing klezmer music in the Berlin of the 1990s, and the mixed feelings such an experience would necessarily call up."[15]
AllMusic called the album "appropriately reflective klezmer from Germany, where even the high-spirited freylekhs have a somber edge and Kurt Bjorling's probing clarinet is part accusatory finger, part triumph of intellect and love over will."[13]
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Berlin Overture" | |
2. | "Brave Old Hora" | |
3. | "Basarabye" | |
4. | "Big Train" | |
5. | "Waltz Roman à Clef" | |
6. | "Borsht" | |
7. | "Oy, di Dreydlekh" | |
8. | "Di Sapozhkelekh" | |
9. | "Yismekhu" | |
10. | "A Tish-Nign" | |
11. | "Bobover Wedding March" | |
12. | "Rufn di Kinder Aheym" | |
13. | "Doina Extravaganza" | |
14. | "Berlin 1990" |