Biography
Multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist Henry Sapoznik directed Kapelye toward a rigorous engagement with Eastern European Jewish klezmer traditions. Among the earliest klezmer revival groups to issue recordings, the ensemble adopted an expansive repertoire that blended folk ballads, labor and political anthems, and Yiddish Theater selections.
While still active in the string band Delaware Water Gap Band, Sapoznik recruited players for a 1979 klezmer lecture at Temple Beth-El in Providence, Rhode Island. The lineup featured pianist and vocalist Josh Waletzsky, who had earlier enlisted Sapoznik for the soundtrack of the film Image Before My Eyes, documenting Jewish life in Poland between the two world wars. Other participants—Michael Alpert on second fiddle and vocals, Eric Berman on tuba, and Lauren Brody on vocals, accordion, and piano—had prior experience in the Balkan music scene. Ken Maltz took the clarinet chair after Woody Allen and Pete Sokolow declined invitations.
The November 18, 1979 debut performance proved sufficiently successful for the musicians to commit to full-time work as a band. Adopting the name Kapelye, Yiddish for “a band,” they began locating and studying turn-of-the-century klezmer recordings. Their first album, Future & Past, appeared in 1981; Levine & His Flying Machine and Chicken followed in 1985 and 1987. The most commercially successful release, Old-Time Jewish American Radio, paid tribute to the history of Yiddish-American broadcasting.
Kapelye contributed to film soundtracks including the 1981 adaptation The Chosen, drawn from Chaim Potok’s novel, and Israeli director Menahem Golan’s 1984 production Over the Brooklyn Bridge, which starred Elliot Gould, Shelly Winters, Sid Caesar, Margaux Hemingway, and Carol Kane.
While still active in the string band Delaware Water Gap Band, Sapoznik recruited players for a 1979 klezmer lecture at Temple Beth-El in Providence, Rhode Island. The lineup featured pianist and vocalist Josh Waletzsky, who had earlier enlisted Sapoznik for the soundtrack of the film Image Before My Eyes, documenting Jewish life in Poland between the two world wars. Other participants—Michael Alpert on second fiddle and vocals, Eric Berman on tuba, and Lauren Brody on vocals, accordion, and piano—had prior experience in the Balkan music scene. Ken Maltz took the clarinet chair after Woody Allen and Pete Sokolow declined invitations.
The November 18, 1979 debut performance proved sufficiently successful for the musicians to commit to full-time work as a band. Adopting the name Kapelye, Yiddish for “a band,” they began locating and studying turn-of-the-century klezmer recordings. Their first album, Future & Past, appeared in 1981; Levine & His Flying Machine and Chicken followed in 1985 and 1987. The most commercially successful release, Old-Time Jewish American Radio, paid tribute to the history of Yiddish-American broadcasting.
Kapelye contributed to film soundtracks including the 1981 adaptation The Chosen, drawn from Chaim Potok’s novel, and Israeli director Menahem Golan’s 1984 production Over the Brooklyn Bridge, which starred Elliot Gould, Shelly Winters, Sid Caesar, Margaux Hemingway, and Carol Kane.
Albums
