Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Balkan Bistro Street Band Plays Hava Nagila

In the four years that we've been posting videos, we included 39 versions of Hava Nagila, as performed all over the world, many in very unlikely places. Athough it's been awhile since the most recent post, we haven't stopped looking for new and ususual renditions.

Today we're posting our fortieth Hava Nagila, as played by the Balkan Bistro Street Band. The band is a project involving six young musicians and fans of Balkan music in general in Eastern Europe. With suitable training for playing in place and on the march, they try to raise awareness and infect their listeners with their passion for Balkan music and its sounds and rhythms.

They seem to play mainly in cities in Italy, marching through the streets in loose formation while they play. In this non-marching version of Hava Nagila, they start the melody about 30 seconds into the video, play the song for two minutes, launch into some improv for two minutes, and then return to Hava Nagila.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)