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Tzimmes
Tradition & Innovation in Jewish Music
www.tzimmes.net

Tzimmes had its humble beginnings in 1986 in Victoria, B.C., and for about 4 years played for enthusiastic audiences within and outside the Jewish community. They bid adieu to each other in 1990, but as mazl (luck) would have it, two of its members, namely Moshe Denburg and Julian Siegel, moved to Vancouver. In the fall of 1991, together with a longtime friend of Moshe's from Jerusalem, Yona Bar-Sever, Tzimmes was re-formed. Soon after they were joined by Vocalist Myrna Rabinowitz, and [the late*] Egyptian Percussionist Adel Awad. Since the year 2000, there have been a number of new members in the Tzimmes mishpakha (family). At present (2022), the full slate is as follows: Moshe Denburg (leader/voice/guitar), Yona Bar-Sever (guitar/voice), Myrna Rabinowitz (voice), Fabiana Katz (voice), Saul Berson (clarinet/alto sax/flute), Amy Stephen (accordion/tin whistle/voice), Tim Stacey (bass), and Phil Belanger (drums).

Original in concept and sound, Tzimmes occupies a niche of its own in Jewish Music. Over the years, they have concertized in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and England, at Folk Festivals and Communal Events, for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike.
Tzimmes has always been committed to presenting Jewish Music in its many facets - everything from Middle Eastern (Mizrahi/Hebrew) to Eastern European (Klezmer/Yiddish) to Mediterranean (Sephardi/Ladino), and contemporary musical vernaculars. New settings of traditional repertoire alternate with completely original creations.

Their recordings - four to date - have received regular airings on a variety of radio programs in Canada, the U.S., England, and Europe. Their debut album, Sweet and Hot, was given a prime time interview with Robert Siegel on National Public Radio's All Things Considered; and their second album, A Lid For Every Pot was featured on CBC's The Gabereau Show, in an hour long national broadcast.
The American folk/world music magazine, Dirty Linen, in reviewing Tzimmes' third recording, KlezMyriad, had this to say about the band: "...(they are) new-generation klezmorim who are preserving, but also extending, Jewish music into the next century."

* Adel Awad, our longtime colleague and a musician loved by all who ever heard him play, passed away in early May 2007. He had suffered from lupus complications for many years. He was 51 years old. His memory will always be a blessing, and his drumming legendary.

View all albums by Tzimmes

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