About
Also known as: De Amsterdam Klezmer Band
Few bands can claim they built a following by busking in Amsterdam's parks and pubs, but that is exactly how the Amsterdam Klezmer Band got their start. Founded in 1996 by saxophonist Job Chajes, the group rooted themselves in Yiddish dance music before pushing outward into Balkan, Romani, jazz, hip hop, electronic, and ska. The addition of Ukrainian singer Alec Kopyt in 2001, a specialist in prison songs from Odesa, gave the band a frontman unlike anyone else in the genre, and the two of them have been the engine of the group ever since, with Kopyt singing and Chajes rapping. Over more than two decades they have released a string of albums that document their restless genre hopping, from the Knitting Factory Records release Limonchiki to collaborations with Turkey's Galata Gypsy Band, German DJ Shantel, and Brazilian singer Lílian Vieira. Their 2006 track Sadagora Hot Dub became a genuine radio hit. The band lost their longtime accordionist Theo van Tol in August 2023, a real blow to a lineup that had been remarkably stable for years.
