A compilation album going under the title of “Klezmer Revolution”, also available in Hungary, provides a sample of the most modern sounds in klezmer music today. The common feature of these sounds is the injection of fresh blood into Yiddish music, far removed from traditional performance styles and the klezmer wave of the 1970s, and frequently melding with other genres and music of other cultures. It is this “global” approach that typifies the American-German group Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird and the English Oi Va Voi. Daniel Kahn moved from Detroit to Berlin, where he has produced four albums since 2006, all featuring a hitherto unprecedented mixture of vitriolic political cabaret, radical songs of the labour movement, klezmer and punk rock. There is no better indication of his status and quality than the list of guests featured on his recordings, including some of the most influential performers in klezmer – among them Frank London, Paul Brody, Michael Alpert and Lorin Sklamberg. The debut album by Oi Va Voi was released in 2003, but even before this the band had already received an invitation to perform at the highly prestigious Glastonbury Festival. The album Laughter Through Tears – which synthesised klezmer with other folk music traditions of Eastern Europe, as well as pop and electronic music – topped the playlists of European world music radio stations for months. Although the band subsequently went through a line-up change, its momentum remained unbroken as it produced a new masterpiece entitled Travelling the Face of the Globe – with Hungarian guest Ági Szalóki.

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