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Vancouver’s Geoff Berner could be klezmer’s saviour. That’s a lofty title to bestow on this awkward, bald-headed father of three, but on The Wedding Dance Of The Widow Bride the accordion-wielding punk manages to make klezmer cool again. As on his debut, Whisky Rabbi, Berner fuses minimalist indie melodies and punk rock passion with trad Jewish wedding music. If that’s hard to imagine, picture Billy Bragg fronting the band that played at your cousin’s bar mitzvah. Every song is catchy and curious, while lyrically Berner comes to disturbing conclusions about wedded bliss (a marriage is only perfect after the husband dies). Klezmer purists might quibble with Berner’s lack of Yiddish or the fact that his instrumental chops can’t compare to, well, any other klezmer act, but at least the rocker’s bringing a new audience to a near-forgotten genre. Geoff Berner plays the Tranzac Saturday (February 17).
