Beyond the Pale is an album by the klezmer band Brave Old World, released in 1994.[2][3] The album title refers to the Pale of Settlement.[4]

Production

The album was produced by Frank Dostal.[5] It contains original songs as well as interpretations of traditional Yiddish songs.[6] Founding member Joel Rubin departed the band prior to the recording sessions.[7] The opening and closing tracks, about the fall of the Berlin Wall, were written in 1990.[8][9]

"Rufn Di Kinder Aheym" ("Calling the Children Home") was inspired by the New Orleans cornetist Buddy Bolden.[10] A cimbalom was employed on "Yismekhu".[11] Leon Schwartz taught the band a few of Beyond the Pale's songs.[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide	[5]

The Globe and Mail wrote that "the dance tunes are as irresistible as ever, but the underlying spirit is not chutzpah or even nostalgia so much as a deep sadness and urgent compassion."[14] The Washington Post concluded that "much of the recording might be described as a meditation on the art of playing klezmer music in the Berlin of the 1990s, and the mixed feelings such an experience would necessarily call up."[15]

AllMusic called the album "appropriately reflective klezmer from Germany, where even the high-spirited freylekhs have a somber edge and Kurt Bjorling's probing clarinet is part accusatory finger, part triumph of intellect and love over will."[13]

Track listing

References