DJ Paradiddle and Klezmer Breaks

DJ Paradiddle

Last week I was driving around the Gulf Coast of Florida listening to the radio. I  locked on to some good old ripping Bar Mitzvah music, some Klezmer, that old Hava-Nagila style, lift-people-in-chairs-and-pump-them-up-and-down-over-the-crowd kind of rhythm.

The music didn’t go with the landscape (usually a key criteria) but whatever: my girls and I were bouncing.

All music falls somewhere on the spectrum of how much it either drives you inside yourself [Chopin, high lonesome ballads by the Stanley Brothers] or breaks you out of yourself [KRS-1, P-Funk, Early Chili Peppers], and some artists like Manu Chao can hit both ends.

Klezmer is far to the ‘breakout’ side of the spectrum. For various reasons I’ve been in an emo flow lately and this moment of us bouncing in the car was a brief but total liberation. It got me searching the internet for more Klezmer, especially new artists working with this–my people’s–musical heritage.

One kid I found who seems to be making ill beats and not taking anything too seriously is dj Paradiddle. His dad is the Klezmer Guy, who according to Para’s blog, “paid him five dollars to play “Wipe Out” at a Hanukkah party.”

After his bar mitzvah, Para started playing regularly with his father’s band, Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band, and from there has progressed as a player of various instruments and musical styles.

I’m still just getting into dj Paradiddle, but from what I’ve heard so far I’m stoked. Check out:

Yiddishe Blues (single) by DJ Paradiddle.

Ideal listening time: Hannukah party.

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David Miller is the senior editor at Matador.