Who we are

Recordings

The soulful and stirring music of the Jews of Eastern Europe and more recently, of New York's Lower East Side has found a home in Vermont. In the summer of 1981 a group of central Vermont musicians, entranced by the rhythms and spirit of klezmer music, formed the Nisht Geferlach Klezmer Band. "Nisht Geferlach" translated literally from the Yiddish means "not dangerous". More colloquially, it means "Relax, it won't kill you".

  The band plays songs from the golden age of New York's Yiddish Theater as well as freilachs, bulgars and other lively instrumentals that display the Dixieland influence on Jewish immigrant musicians.

  Since our beginnings in 1981 we have played regularly in northern New England, upstate New York and in the Montreal area. We have played concerts and dances at festivals, performing arts centers, colleges, community events, weddings, on radio and TV, art museums, libraries, schools, Governor's inaugural balls and Knights of Columbus halls! Our music can be jazzy, melancholy, thoughtful and ecstatic - sometimes in the same tune! People can get up and dance, they can listen to the songs, they can learn something or they can just have a really good time. Our music is enjoyed by audiences of all types - they are bound to hear something new and something familiar.

  Nisht Geferlach has released several recordings of Klezmer music and traditional Yiddish songs which we have compiled into our "Best of Klez" Album available on the Store!

Listen to a sampling HERE.