The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
CT-based Jewish folk band hosts 25th-anniversary concert in Hamden
Twenty-five years ago, musician David Chevan got the idea to give local Jewish families something to do on Dec. 25, a day reserved for the Christmas holiday.
“There’s not a heck of a lot to do on Dec. 25,” Chevan said.
What started with Chevan playing Klezmer music with friends morphed into a yearly tradition with several local musicians participating in the musical group known as Nu Haven Kapelye. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the band’s Dec. 25 concerts at Hamden’s Congregation Mishkan Israel. To mark the occasion, the band will release its second album, “Nu Haven Style,” the same day.
Klezmer is a form of Jewish instrumental folk music. Klezmer is a Yiddish word with two Hebrew roots — klei, meaning vessel, and zemer, meaning song. Klezmer is often played at Eastern European social functions, like weddings, according to the Jewish Music Institute.
Chevan said Nu Haven Kapelye plays Klezmer and other Eastern European Yiddish songs at local events and senior rest homes. The band typically ranges from 15 to 20 players and includes everything from guitar and drums to flutes and clarinets.
“I jokingly call it a cross between a big band and an orchestra,” Chevan said
According to Chevan, t25th-anniversaryary concert will feature a wide array of musicians who have participated in the Nu Haven Kapelye or have performed at previous Dec. 25
concerts. In addition to the music, there will be traditional Eastern European
Klezmer dancing led by Adrianne Greenbaum.
Outside of performing
for the community, Nu Haven Kapelye became a nonprofit organization in 2019, expanding its mission to teach musicians — both younger and older — traditional Eastern European folk music. According to Chevan, many members have children who have come to “develop musical chops,” which he fosters by putting on workshops to teach them songs.
“Through that, we have managed to start to build, slowly but surely, younger generations of people who know this tradition now ... and can play it elsewhere, not just here in the New Haven area anymore,” Chevan said. “(They’re) helping to keep a tradition alive.”
The Nu Haven Kapelye 25th anniversary concert and CD release will be held on Monday at 4 p.m. The concert will be held at Congregation Mishkan Israel at 785 Ridge Road in Hamden.