Alicia Svigals Unveils Fiery Klezmer Fiddle-Fueled Party Album

Alicia Svigals – Fidl Afire (Borscht Beat, 2024)

Svigals is widely regarded as the leading exponent of traditional klezmer violin. She co-founded the influential Grammy-winning ensemble Klezmatics and led the group for seventeen years, pioneering a contemporary approach to klezmer music. Her work on the groundbreaking 1997 album Fidl album explored a deep, old-world sound, while her Beregovski Suite CD with jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer, and her silent film scores with pianist-composer Donald Sosin, pushed the harmonic and improvisational boundaries of klezmer.

In hew new album, Fidl Afire, Svigals returns with a traditional klezmer dance band, marking a significant shift from the fiddles and cymbaloms of her first album. Indeed, this album features a mix of solo fiddle and lively, joyful ensemble pieces.

“I’ve been playing Jewish celebrations my whole career with the most hard-hitting klezmer talent on the East Coast, but I’d never recorded solo with that kind of a band until now,” says Svigals about the direction of the new album. “People think of the clarinet in that role, but I can do the things a clarinet can and more! On the album I play mid-century Dave Tarras tunes never before heard on the violin as well as a little-known gem by his contemporary Marty Levitt. Klezmer when you get down to it is dance music, and after the solo invocation that begins the album, Fidl Afire is one long party.”