1. Traditionally, a
musician playing at
Ashkenazy Jewish celebrations, mainly life-cycle ones such as
weddings and {bar mitzvah] celebrations. In this sense, the type of
music being played does not matter. From
Yiddish; derived from the Hebrew expression, "kley zemer", meaning, "vessels of song". Pl. "klezmorim"
2. Since the
revival of
traditional Ashkenazy music in the US in the 1970's, the word has been used to refer to traditional Ashkenazy (mainly
secular) music.
1. Although they were poor, my grandparents had a jubilant wedding, with a band of four klezmers playing drum, clarinet, violin, and accordion.
2. For their new album, the klezmer music group researched early recordings by clarinetist David Tarras.
