Sirba Octet

In Yiddish, "tantz" of course means dance: the hora and the sirba carry us, quite literally, into a dizzying whirl. But if this whirling dimension is very much present, it is also the depths of the soul that the ensemble, under the impetus of its founder Richard Schmoucler, sets out to explore. Born in the regions of Eastern Europe, the melodies, seeming to rise from collective memory, plunge us by turns into unbridled joy and into deeply moving emotions. Even in the most cheerful pages hovers an underlying melancholy linked to the history of a people who have never ceased to move from one country to another. And there is that poetic humour, at times biting, which simply reflects life itself!

Programme: Traditional klezmer and Gypsy music from Romania, Moldova, Russia and Hungary

Performers: Sirba Octet

Laurent Manaud-Pallas • violin

Hervé Blandinieres • viola

Claude Giron • cello

Stanislas Kuchinski • double bass

Philippe Berrod • clarinet

Christophe Henry • piano

Iurie Morar • cymbalom

Richard Schmoucler • direction