Litvakus

New York Belarusian Jewish roots / HIP / acoustic punk klezmer band

“One of the more unusual bands on the New York klezmer scene” – The Jewish Week
“Forefront of contemporary Jewish music.”, Jewcy.com
“…conveying far more than American klezmer’s conventionally foreseeable exuberance.” – Observer
“Infectious melodies and rhythms” – Ari Greenberg, In Geveb 
“rhythmically explosive” – The Jewish Week

Litvakus, founded and led by the clarinetist, vocalist, and composer Zisl Slepovitch, is a critically acclaimed klezmer collective, the first to focus exclusively on the music and culture of Litvak Jews and their neighbors in Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and parts of Ukraine. Litvakus features a uniquely distinct sound, a mix of drones from Belarusian bagpipes and stings, with a recognizably Jewish idiom, and high-energy, “shtetl-disco” music, along with traditional Eastern European Jewish vocals. The band’s repertoire also includes contemporary klezmer pieces written in the spirit of roots music. Litvakus equally fits chamber and large open-air settings, plays at festivals, concert venues, clubs and private events.

Litvakus first performed in 2008 in the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s production of Gimpel Tam after I.B.Singer. Among group’s programs are Traveling the Yiddishland with Michael Alpert (2012), Raysn: The Music of Jewish Belarus (2014); and GoyFriend with Sasha Lurje (2018).

Songlines magazine (UK) reviews Litvakus’ album Raysn:

“An extremely welcome arrival on the Jewish music scene.” – Simon Broughton