Golem

Golem is:Annette Ezekiel-Kogan - Accordion/Lead VocalAaron Diskin - Vocal/TambourineAlicia Jo Rabins - ViolinCurtis Hasselbring - TromboneTaylor Bergren-Chrisman - Upright BassTim Monaghan - DrumsContrary to popular belief, Golem is neither a towering Jewish Frankenstein who defended the Jews of 17th Century Prague, nor a creature from “Lord of the Rings.” Golem is a 6 piece Eastern European folk-punk band known for electrifying dance floors with their globetrotting goulash of Jewish, Slavic, and Gypsy folk songs.Fronted by Annette Ezekiel-Kogan--singer, accordionist, and 5-foot powerhouse--Golem’s sound evokes wisps of old-world elegance filtered through the successes and disappointments of new-world dreams. Spending nights in Lower East Side immigrant-owned bagel shops and summers in Eastern Europe, Annette delightfully collects Jewish, Gypsy, and Slavic folk songs, adding, editing, and rearranging them along the way. These are the songs to which her Eastern European grandparents danced over a century ago, and now Golem has its fans dancing to the same boisterous beats.

Golem is:
Annette Ezekiel-Kogan - Accordion/Lead Vocal
Aaron Diskin - Vocal/Tambourine
Alicia Jo Rabins - Violin
Curtis Hasselbring - Trombone
Taylor Bergren-Chrisman - Upright Bass
Tim Monaghan - Drums

Contrary to popular belief, Golem is neither a towering Jewish Frankenstein who defended the Jews of 17th Century Prague, nor a creature from “Lord of the Rings.” Golem is a 6 piece Eastern European folk-punk band known for electrifying dance floors with their globetrotting goulash of Jewish, Slavic, and Gypsy folk songs.

Fronted by Annette Ezekiel-Kogan--singer, accordionist, and 5-foot powerhouse--Golem’s sound evokes wisps of old-world elegance filtered through the successes and disappointments of new-world dreams. Spending nights in Lower East Side immigrant-owned bagel shops and summers in Eastern Europe, Annette delightfully collects Jewish, Gypsy, and Slavic folk songs, adding, editing, and rearranging them along the way. These are the songs to which her Eastern European grandparents danced over a century ago, and now Golem has its fans dancing to the same boisterous beats.

At Annette's bat mitzvah, friends and relatives told her mother she should be an opera singer or a cantor, but Annette's relationship with traditional Judaism ended there. Instead, the classically trained pianist and ballerina-in-training dyed her hair blue, wore nothing but black, and joined up with the local punks.

Still, Annette spent countless summers with her family in the famously Jewish Catskill Mountains. Later when Annette insisted that she not miss ballet class during the summer months, Annette's mother shipped her off to a nearby Ukrainian resort (as in the Old Country, Jews and Slavs still live side by side in the Borsht Belt) which happened to have a dance program. Thrown into a Ukrainian folk dance, Annette picked up the steps immediately and, in traditional Slavic costumes, was soon dancing lead roles and teaching the classes herself. She was forever smitten with the rhythms and melodies of Eastern Europe, which she often heard there played on accordion. The sound of the squeezebox gave her chills, and years later Annette bought her own (a red "Main Squeeze" with rhinestones) and started learning to play folk songs by ear.

Too short to make it big-time as a ballet dancer, Annette discovered she had a gift for languages: she could understand Ukrainian from her dancing days and picked up French, Italian, and Russian along the way. When she hit Yiddish (a mix of German, Hebrew and Slavic, and the language of Eastern European Jews), Annette's many interests suddenly collided. She had been listening to her grandparents' Klezmer records since she was a kid and could feel the music’s Slavic dance beats in her feet. It was soon after this that Annette conceived of the band Golem– a monster stumbling through Jewish music – shaking things up, yet remaining true to tradition.

During their time together, Golem has toured extensively, both on their own and supporting artists like Matisyahu, Balkan Beat Box, Rasputina and The Walkmen. Known for their raucous behavior live, Golem's stage presence is more akin to a traveling band of gypsy acrobats and fiends than it is to any punk band on the scene right now. It's entirely possible that at any moment during a show, you just might find the band and the crowd entangled in a frenzied hora.

After self-releasing 2004’s Homesick Songs, Golem paired with JDub Records (Matisyahu, Balkan Beat Box) and producer Emory Dobyns (Patti Smith, Antony and the Johnsons, Battles) for their sophomore release, Fresh Off Boat (a reference to new immigrants who call each other F.O.B.s). Golem's upcoming third album, produced by Dobyns, promises to showcase Golem's much-lauded “contagious energy and virtuoso playing” (Rolling Stone).

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12/26/08: Jewish Music Celebration: Golem

This six-piece Eastern European folk-punk band is “where Eastern Europe meets the Lower East Side.”

Jewish Music Celebration: Golem

This six-piece Eastern European folk-punk band is “where Eastern Europe meets the Lower East Side.”

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