Ensemble DRAj
| Ensemble DRAj | |
|---|---|
 Ensemble DRAj at the EBU Festival 2006 in Kaustinen (Finland) |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Yiddish songs Klezmer |
| founding | 1996 |
| resolution | 2017 |
| Website | http://www.draj.de/ |
| Founding members | |
| Anette Krüger (until 2003) | |
| Ralf Kaupenjohann | |
| Ludger Schmidt | |
| Last occupation | |
singing |
Manuela Weichenrieder (since 2003) |
accordion |
Ralf Kaupenjohann |
violoncello |
Ludger Schmidt |
Ensemble DRAj was a klezmer group from Germany. The DRAj ensemble dedicated its work to the song in Yiddish . The term draj is the Yiddish name for three .
Musical direction
The ensemble DRAj tried to do justice to the Yiddish song texts with its chamber music arrangements. The musical stylistic devices used did not correspond to those of the usual klezmer music. The members brought in their experiences from classical, modern and jazz.
history
Was founded Ensemble DRAj Anette Kruger (vocals), Ralf Kaupenjohann (accordion) and Ludger Schmidt (cello) 1996. On November 9, 1997, she first presented the program of songs from the ghettos to the public in Kunstschacht Katerberg in Essen.
In 2000 the Essen label EthnoArt released the first CD Songs from the Ghettos . In 2001 Ensemble DRAj received an invitation to the 1st Buenos Aires Klezmer Festival in Argentina. The festival was canceled because of the attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 , a year later the DRAj ensemble played at the European Festival there at the invitation of the Goethe Institute in Lisbon .
The singer Anette Krüger left the DRAj ensemble in 2003 . Manuela Weichenrieder sang in her place during the appearance in the new formation at the 1st Bremen Klezmer Festival in September 2003. In 2005, WDR 3 brought a feature about Ensemble DRAj . At the beginning of 2006 the CD Kinderjorn was released on the Bremen label Laika . "CD of the week" at bluerhythm .
Ensemble DRAj was sent by WDR to the EBU Folk Music Festival 2006 in Kaustinen (Finland) as the German representative . At the Creole competition - 1st prize for world music from NRW , DRAj took part in the qualification for the national decision. In November 2006 the group started a new project with the Dortmund writer Jürgen Wiersch in the machine house of Essen's Carl colliery .
In 2007 the WDR broadcast the concert in the Dortmund domicil in the series Das Konzert . In 2008 the Ensemble DRAj was the only German group to be invited to the International Yewish Music Festival Amsterdam (NL) and the Festival son del aire (ES), and in 2009 to the Finnish Festival Sata-Häme Soi in Ikaalinen . In spring 2009 there were first appearances with the Spanish musicians Germán Díaz (hurdy-gurdy) and Diego Martín (drums) in Spain. This resulted in a joint program with Sephardic songs, with which the quintet ensemble DRAj y Marisco fresco toured Germany in autumn 2009 and 2010. In 2010 the sampler nube de nanas para aspace was released in Spain with a contribution by Ensemble DRAj on the Producciones efímeras label . In May 2011 the CD Ale shvestern was also released on the Laika label in Bremen. In autumn 2011, the DRAj ensemble was invited to the transVOCALE festival in Frankfurt (Oder) . Renewed collaboration with the Spanish duo Marisco fresco in autumn 2012. Appearance at the 29th Ingolstadt Jazz Days 2012 and the Klezmerwelten Festival in Gelsenkirchen 2012.
On March 28, 2017, the trio broke up.
Discography
- Songs from the Ghettos (2000; EthnoArt)
- Carnival of Cultures 1. World Music - Made in the Ruhr Area (2001; EthnoArt), sampler
- Kinderjorn (2006; Laika Records )
- O bitter time. Camp songs 1933–1945. (2006; Documentation and Information Center (DIZ) Emslandlager , Papenburg), sampler
- nube de nanas para aspace (2010; Producciones efímeras ), sampler
- Ale shvestern (2011; Laika Records)
literature
- Apfeld, Wiltrud (Red.): Klezmer. Heym and hip. Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-89861-379-8 (exhibition catalog with 1 CD), p. 26; 30th
- Eckstaedt, Aaron: "Klaus with the fiddle, Heike with the bass ...". Yiddish music in Germany. , Berlin / Vienna: Philo Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2003, ISBN 3-8257-0302-9 , p. 64.
- Gesthuisen, Birger : Music from a suitcase full of story (s) - Ensemble DRAj: German contribution to the EBU Festival 2006, in: Folker! The magazine for folk, song and world music , issue 4/2006, pp. 32–33.
- Sibum, Helen: strange and yet familiar. Three artists of no Jewish origin give klezmer its own special touch. Are you even allowed to do that ?, in: Neue Ruhr / Neue Rhein Zeitung (NRZ), June 1, 2008 (weekend supplement, p. 2)