Cookie Segelstein -- Violin, Viola
Joshua Horowitz -- Tsimbl, Chromatic Button Accordion
Stuart Brotman -- Bass, Basy, Tilinca, Baraban
Veretski Pass is the premier trio of traditional klezmer music. They have twice been chosen as ambassadors representing traditional Jewish music of Eastern Europe for the German World Exhibition of Klezmer History (Klezmerwelten) and have headlined the Jewish World Music Festival in at the University of London. They were recently invited to perform at the prestigious Concergebouw Concert Hall in Amersterdam to a sold out audience with a standing ovtation. Their eponymous CD as been repeatedly on the 10-best recording lists of journalists. Cookie's unique Jewish violin style was featured for a Jewish wedding scene on HBO's "Sex and the City" and Josh and Stu's compositions provided the music for Jes Bernstock's award-winning film, The Holocaust Tourist.
Veretski Pass offers a unique and exciting combination of virtuosic musicianship and raw energy that has excited concert goers across the world. The group took it's name Veretski Pass from the mountain pass in the Carpathians through which the emigrating Jews first settled in Transcarpathia, first reaching the gtown of Mukachevo, or Munkacs. It was the first point of entry of the Magyar tribes into Europe in 696 AD. Cookie's father was born in Nizhniye Veretski at the base of this pass, her monther in Munkacs, and much of the music comes from this region.
Playing in an unbound, energetic village style, this band of veterans plays Jewish instrumental music of historical Eastern Europe; melodies from Ukraine, Carpathian-Ruthenia, Bessarabia, and Rumania. Much of this rare music has been gleaned from field recordings gathered by the musicians themselves in numerous trips throughout Europe. With its colorful instrumentaiton, unique arrangments and compostions, this seminal ensemble carries on the ancient tradition of Klezmer musicians, playing music of all kinds, but with a recognizable Jewish sound.
