Geoff Berner
When:
Sat, February 27, 2010 at 8:00 PM
Where:
WISE Hall
1882 Adanac St.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
Lat/Lon: 49.2775, -123.066
What:
“I want to drag klezmer music kicking and
screaming back into the bars.”
That’s the goal of Vancouver singer-songwriter-accordion player Geoff Berner. His latest album, “Klemzer Mongrels”, is the ultimate expression of his aggressive kind of klezmer. It's a klezmer punk folk dance album about mixed-breeds of all kinds. Berner's message is evident in songs like "Half German Girlfriend", "Luck in Exile", and the ironic "Authentic Klezmer Wedding Band". The music and lyrics are a raw assault on purity that will make listeners, laugh, bang their heads, cry, and feel absurd, all at the same time.
After numerous international tours, festival appearances, airplay on national radio in 7 countries, and slots on tour with artists such as Billy Bragg, Kaizers Orchestra, Balkan Beat Box and the Be Good Tanyas (who covered his song "Light Enough to Travel", selling over 100,000 copies), he's garnered critical acclaim and a cult following for his sharp songwriting and cabaret performance style.