Who's who at KlezNorth?

The KlezNorth organising group

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Aisha Walker is a flutist who also plays tuba. She fell in love with Klezmer several years ago and has since attended several KlezNorth and KlezFest workshops. She is a KlezNorth trustee and looks after the email list, website and online booking system. Aisha plays with Ey Up Klezmer (genuine Yorkshire Klezmer!), based in West Yorkshire.

Hannah Ochner is a Cambridge-based klezmer clarinetist and physicist and has been an active member of the international klezmer community for many years. She performs with several ensembles, including Hop Skotshne and the Caravan Chamber Orchestra. At Yiddish Summer Weimar, she was an assistant to the faculty of the Instrumental Music and Dance Orchestra workshops in 2021 and led the Youth Klezmer Band in 2022-2024. Hannah has also made substantial contributions to the digitization and translation of the material included in the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky collection as part of the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project

Photo credit: Shendl Copitman

John MacNaughton is a woodwind specialist based in London, specifically interested in exploring traditions from the Pale of Settlement (klezmer and co-territorial), and the Balkans.

Originally studying formally; on the prestigious BA Jazz course at Leeds College of Music (2010), and graduating from the MA Music Performance course at SOAS (2017) with distinction, John has since studied with leading Klezmer Clarinettists Susi Evans and Merlin Shepherd, as well as attending festivals including Yiddish Summer Weimar, Klez Kanada, and Klezfest.

Current projects include Loshn Klezmer Band; featuring Anna Lowenstein (Fidl), Susi Evans (Accordion), and Janos Kallai (Cimbalom), and running the National Klezmer Youth Orkester (NKYO) with Ilana Cravitz. He co-founded award-winning klezmer ensemble ‘Oysland‘ (World Music Network, Battle of the Bands, 2017), plays traditional Bulgarian/Macedonian music with ‘Raka Balkan Band‘, and directed the SOAS klezmer band from 2015-2019.

“Barnstorming alto sax” Ian Mann, thejazzmann.com, London Jazz Festival, 2015
“Top-notch, next-generation Klezmer” DJ Ritu, A World in London, Resonance FM
“Top musicianship, true to the Klezmer tradition and great fun too!” Broadstairs Folk Festival

 

 

A Kleznorth veteran, Keith Lander joined the organising group in 2014, bringing his experience as an instrumentalist and music festival organiser. He has been involved in organising the national Raise Your Banners Festival of Political Song and the National Street Choir Festival.

Keith grew up playing punk, graduating to samba and campaigning street bands before connecting to klezmer and his Jewish roots. He has been the drummer/percussionist for the northern UK Klezmer band, The Klatsh, and played regularly for the KlezmeerKats (a session and occasional performance group in West Yorkshire, UK) as well as participating in KlezFest London.

He also plays in a local brass band and in Hot Aire! concert band and sings in a community choir. ‘Bradford Voices’, and in ‘May Contain Notes’ http://www.maycontainnotes.uk/

Keith is a regular Kabaret/schmooze host for KlezNorth, an din 2021 will host the online Kabaret/schmooze on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as doing a cookery demo at 5pm on Friday – Lander’s Latke’s live!