Nunu is an intriguing band based in Munich. These German musicians present a style of music based on Eastern European Jewish traditions that they call klezmer-plus. Their sound defies categorization, incorporating folk, rock, and “world-beat” ethnic elements, with a touch of swing, that altogether might not be wholly appropriate for a jazz magazine review.
The group has been together since 1993, and this is their second album on Tip, a subsidiary of the Enja label.
The group has a brighter sound than a usual melancholy klezmer band, that might be attributable to a mittel-as opposed to Eastern-European outlook. The repertoire includes classics of the klezmer genre, sung in the original Yiddish. The improvisational soloists include a classic rock-sounding guitar of Uli Graner; the Gypsy violin, accordion and mandolin of Mic Oechsner; and the jazz-inflected trombone of Gmelch. It’s an interesting melange, the sum of which is less that the whole of its parts.
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