Where does Klezmer music come from?
First, Jewish musicians absorbed the sounds of the folk musics of the countries where they lived. Eastern European Jewish music is heavily influenced by the scales and rhythms of the Eastern European folk styles. Occasionally, complete folk melodies found their way into the Klezmer repertoire as did the dances. Listen for similarities between Klezmer music and other Eastern European folk music that you might know, for example, Rom (Gypsy) or Bulgarian folk music. Many people also hear similarities to Middle Eastern and Arabic music. This is a result of the long reach of the Ottoman Empire into Southeastern Europe which created a bridge between the folk musics of Europe and the Middle East. Second, up until the twentieth century, almost all Jews frequently heard and sang liturgical–church– music, from the elaborate sacred music of the professional cantor (“hazan”) in the great Synagogues (“shuls”) of the large cities to the daily prayers chanted in the tiny village (“shtetl”) Synagogu
