West Coast in aspect, global in impact, Veretski Pass’ iconic klezmer sound is made by Cookie Segelstein (violin), Joshua Horowitz (19th-century button accordion and cimbalom), and Stuart Brotman (bass and drum). Our band reunites with clarinet maestro Joel Rubin to record a new project with Ukrainian Jewish melodies collected in the 1920s and 30s by researchers Moyshe Beregovski, Zinoviy Kiselgof, Sholem An-ski, as well as traditional Ukrainian melodies and original compositions. Many of these melodies have only recently become available thanks to the work of the Kigelhof Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project (KMDMP) archive, as well as   extensive fieldwork by the members of our group. With an academic backbone, and a traditional dance band flavor, our group presents historically informed renditions, but with fearless arrangements in our own distinct style, filled with raucous rhythms, soaring melodies, and newly wrought compositions. The members of this group have been highly respected pioneers in the klezmer revival community since the 1980s. Teachers and performers for decades, we are all classically trained and equally comfortable in jazz, classical, and world music. 

A little more about the material in this project. In the last couple of years, some of the manuscripts and research of ethnomusicologists from the old USSR of the early 20th C. have been released. Specifically the work of Moshe Beregovski, who went into the provinces of what is now Ukraine, and gathered recordings (on a wax cylinder recording device) of Jewish informants; including singers and instrumentalists. Our interest in this project is centered around one informant, named Avraham-Yehoshua Makonovetsky, a violinist/cellist born in Khabne, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire in 1872, that wrote many beautiful melodies. He was a working musician as well as a barber, watchmaker, glazier, and music teacher. It's very obvious from his melodies that he was musically educated, and his compositions are a mixture of local folk styles, as well as his own musical ideas. Unlike some of the other gathered melodies in this region, his have an expanded range to show off his virtuosity. Some of the manuscripts of Makonovetsky's music, handwritten and collected by Beregovski, have been preserved by United States, Canadian and western European scholars through the KMDMP project. These precious documents reside in the Vernadsky library in Kiev, which of course is under siege by the Russian attack on Ukraine. Some of the recordings from this collection are still in Ukraine, and also in danger of being destroyed.Through collaboration with the KMDMP project, many musicians and scholars, including the members of our group have participated in digitizing these manuscripts. That means taking the old manuscripts and writing them in music software to be shared. In past recordings we have played melodies from this collection and others. Because of what is happening now in Ukraine, we feel an urgent need to preserve these melodies as well as arrange and compose around them.  Even though we often do extensive research, we handle this material as a musician would, free to make changes, arrangements, and compose in the style of this collection. We will be producing this with a wonderful new label in New York called Borsch Beat, who is very excited about our collaboration.

As with many of our projects, we really enjoy collaborating with many different cultures. At the root of this music that we play, are many different influences. These include, Romanian, Ukrainian, Roma, Turkish, Greek, and even Arabic scales and music. Music knows no political boundaries, knows no tribalism, and we happily  mix these styles in our own projects. This project is no exception to that. Art can do things that political diplomacy cannot. When people are reached emotionally through music, since there are no words to fight about,  this breeds an appreciation for beauty of cultural treasures without divisive verbal ideas. Our audiences are often those who are curious, also since our work has been called "folk chamber music", our performances attract both classical as well as folk music fans. Even if our audience are not familiar with the modes used, which are shared with Turkish and Arabic traditions, since much of this music was used to facilitate weddings and functions, and is really dance music, even those who have never heard the tonalities we play, end up tapping their toes. We will be performing this project in Davis, California, Victoria, Canada, Berkeley, California, and very likely do a European tour in the spring. Because we are also educators and researchers, like all of our other projects we will use this as a basis for our educational presentations which include lecture demonstrations, and visits to schools, libraries and colleges.

Veretski Pass has recorded 5 projects, 2 of them with Joel Rubin, and this will be our 6th. We are very excited about this new project, our third together with Joel Rubin. Although, luckily our label handles the CD printing, and digital uploads, we are responsible for the recording costs, which can be quite expensive. We are hoping that the donations through this crowdfunding and fundraising can help us cross the finish line. We will be recording at the end of May 2024, and immediately go on a concert tour through California,  Canada and Washington State.