Klezmer Festival 2009

Energy in Tzfat

Once a year, the city erupts with movement and excitement as the Klezmer Festival opens. The city is cleaned, parking regulations are enforced, and for 3 days each summer, Tzfat becomes 'The Place To Be'.

The festival has gone through various changes throughout the years, as each mayor and each festival director actualize their visions of what the festival should be.

One year, many "mini-stages" were set up in synagogues and on balconies throughout the Old City and Artist Quarter, so in-between the larger stages, people would be treated to musicians playing in "mini" venues. Other years, one stage was designated at "Carlebach-Non-Stop", which gave fans of Shlomo Carlebach's style a venue which played Carlebach music throughout the night (with a lot of dancing too).

The music, though ostensibly Klezmer music, covers the gamut of Jewish music, from true Klezmer music to general Jewish music. Again, the atmosphere of each year is dependent on that year's manager.

Details of Klezmer 2009

Klezmer 2009 is scheduled for August 10th, 11th and 12th. The present mayor and musical director are putting much effort into bringing local musicians to the festival, and making the stages as centralized and easy for guests to find and settle down at as possible. There are 7 main stages of free Klezmer music, covering the span of the eastern edge of Artists Quarter's Saraya building to the Northern edge of the Old Jewish Quarter's Gan HaIr. In between, stages will be set up in Kikar HaMeginim, the Municipality, Kikar Sadeh, Ma'ayan HaRadum and Gan HaKasum.

While previous years have seen many performances dominated by foreign Klezmer bands (the word "Klezmer" comes from the two Hebrew words for "instrument" and "music" - Kli and Zemer) from America, Germany, Hungry, Austria and other lands, the 2009 Festival will be featuring mostly local artists, many from the Tzfat and the Northern Israel area.

Some of the most noted musicians are Jimmy Lloyd, Musa Berlin, Meril Reznik Ayal Shiloah and Aaron Reizel.

The festival begins each evening at 8:00p.m., and guests who are staying overnight are advised to be in Tzfat by 16:00, as the police close off the roads into Tzfat at that time (residents are able to drive into Tzfat freely). After 16:00, visitors are directed to park their cars in parking lots which are located outside the city, and they enter Tzfat by bus for a small fee. Klezmer 2009 is not scheduled to have any paid performances, so visitors can wander throughout the city freely, going from stage to stage, performance to performance, to enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of the Tzfat festival.