When Toronto-based drummer and percussionist Lorie Wolf set out to head up a jazz band, she didn’t choose to go down any musical path well-traveled.
Instead, the music of her band Queen Kong is founded upon the klezmer jazz of the radical Jewish culture first brought to attention by mavericks like John Zorn and Ben Goldberg. From that foundation, this band can go in any direction, which is probably why Wolf’s upcoming Queen Kong album is titled Fray, which doesn’t just mean “fracas” but is also the Yiddish word for “free.”
The song we’re presenting in the video above is a Balkan punk type tune Wolf wrote called “Bethema.” It doesn’t take long to determine that guest cellist Beth Silver figures heavily into that name and her cello practically kicks off the song. Quickly settling into a 7/8 groove, the four-horn, one electric guitar and drums ensemble is full of cultural richness and the melody is unmistakably shouting “eastern Europe” but also feels unconfined its Jewish characteristics, just like the Fray album as a whole.
Soon enough, the focus turns back on Beth, who pulls off the mean feat of making her cello create the impression that it’s an instrument that is native to klezmer. It is in fact not, but old rules were meant to be replaced by new ones. At least, that’s a credo Queen Kong lives by.
Fray will be released around the world on Friday, May 27th 2022.
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