London

It’s a week and a half before the concert, and folk dancer Jill Gellerman wonders how much room the audience will have to pach. The narrow space down in front won’t do. “Maybe they could zigzag down from the balcony!” she suggests, more than half-seriously. Next she considers the motions from the seats, claps, and then stomps louder than her small frame would suggest her capable of.

No room. It just won’t do.

Gellerman and Klezmer trumpet impresario Frank London are surveying the space of Zankel Hall for the upcoming Family Concert Series season premiere—Frank London and Friends’ Klezmer Party!

The Pach Tanz, or “Clap Dance,” is key, London explains.

“This is very much dance music,” he says, displaying a quick familiarity gained over nearly 30 years of experience. “Often while doing a dance, you’ll understand why the music has a certain rhythmic quality.”

That’s one half of Klezmer’s double helix DNA. The other is vocal.

“What gives klezmer its identity,” says London, who lacked exposure to Yiddish language or music until immersing himself at conservatory, “is its relationship to traditional Jewish song.” As long as you build on the twin foundations of Eastern European Jewish dance music and song, he believes, you’re performing klezmer. “Even if you made a more advanced harmony or put it on electric guitar instead of acoustic violin, you’re still tapping into that source.”

Sunday’s concert promises to stay close to the home base of Klezmer while subtly carrying the audience on a journey from past to present.

And if this concert had a message, what would it be? London responds immediately: “Living, celebrating.” A moral surely worthy of a pach or two.