Highly-Caffeinated Klezmer Music

Klezmer music is upbeat. Klezmer music is tender. Klezmer music is hand-clapping. Klezmer music is tear-jerking.  In the hands of The Java Jews it’s always fun.

It’s music. It’s stories. It’s singing. If the spirit moves you, it’s dancing, too! That’s what you can expect from Iowa’s one and only klezmer band — The Java Jews.  The band plays a mix of Yiddish and Hebrew melodies, including Yiddish parodies of classic American tunes, all combined with dixieland, avant-garde jazz and a touch of Spike Jones.

Read more about the Java Jews below

Do we have a “shtick" for you?

Audiences learn how “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” was written by a Jewish immigrant who never attended a ballgame. They’ll sing along to Yiddish melodies, and off-key singing is expected. Every song starts with a story and if they're lucky, the band will end every song at the same time, too! According to leader Abe Goldstien, the only time the band practices is when it performs. “That way the audience never knows that will happen next,” Goldstien says. “Neither do the musicians for that matter,” he quickly adds.  

Here’s a little “shpeil” about klezmer.

For those of you not hip to klezmer, it is the music that began in Eastern European Jewish communities and emigrated to America in the early 1900s. A revival of Klezmer music began in the mid 1990s, and the Java Jews are proud to keep that tradition alive. 

We’ve “schlepped" far and near to entertain one and all.

Organized in 2001 to perform at the Des Moines Jewish Food Fair, The Java Jews have taken their unique brand of Klezmer music to arts festivals, libraries, universities, retirement communities, coffee shops, music clubs, Klezmer festivals, Jewish community events, the Iowa State Fair and, of course, bar mitzvahs and weddings.