Jake Shulman-Ment Releases Debut Album

American violinist Jake Shulman-Ment's has released his debut solo album on Oriente. A Redele (A Wheel)  is the product of his collaborations with several leading Eastern European artists and features a selection of traditional tunes interlinked with his own compositions. 

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Since the age of fourteen Jake has been performing throughout North America and Europe. He has played with groups such as Romashka, MetroFolk, Damiel Kahn and the Painted Bird, the Klezminors, the Village Klezmer Quintet, and Art Bailey’s Orkestra Popilar.

Jake Shulman-Ment’s wide range of styles includes klezmer, classical, Romanian, Hungarian, Gypsy and Greek. He has been a faculty member of New York’s Henry Street Settlement, Klezcamp, KlezKanada, Klezmer Paris and Yiddish Summer Weimar.

Check out WMN's The Rough Guide To Klzemer for more on Klezmer. 

Flourishing around the world, Klezmer is evolving and mutating into a dynamic music scene drawing on influences as diverse as gypsy, rock and hip-hop, while remaining deeply rooted in ancient Yiddish tunes.

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Here is a rare video of Nicolae Covaci, the oldest living Maramures folk fiddler, playing with Jake Shulman-Ment  Covaci was born in 1921 and has been playing Jewish dances since 1929. He is possibly the last of the Gypsy musicians in Maramures to have played with Jewish musicians in the years leading to the holocaust.  He plays a wide repertoire of Jewish tunes as well as Maramures fiddle styles. 

Here Jake Shulman-Ment performing at his album launch: