I started the Klezmer Band “Playing with Fire” ten years ago – then called  the Simcha Klezmer Band -  under the guidance of music researcher Fay Singer. The band comprises clarinet, violin, accordion and double bass, and it plays folk music from Eastern Europe. The music is typically “Fiddler on the Roof” music i.e. festive music in a minor mode. The instrumental music is closely allied to Yiddish songs. Every year the band accompanies the leading singers of the Jewish community in the Yiddish Song Festival held in the Baxter Theatre to raise funds for the Cape Jewish Seniors. (The CD from the ninth festival, “Cape Town Zing” is available. )

The Klezmer Band has performed at several AGM's of the Jewish Board of Deputies, at the Israel Independence Day Celebrations, in concerts at the SA Jewish Museum, and for the Baxter and Bellville Morning Melodies. The band has accompanied Cantor Ivor Joffe in the show “Rumania! Rumania!” at the Oudtshoorn KKNK and Paarl Cultivaria festival.

It has also featured in SABC 2's Sunday morning programmes “Tapestries” and “Simcha”.

This year the SA Jewish Museum in Hatfield St, Cape Town hosted four Sunday morning breakfast concerts featuring “Playing with Fire”, and each concert featured a soloist from the Jewish community (Beverly Chiat, Aviva Pelham, Richard Gore and Ivor Joffe).

 

 

 

 

The annual Leah Todres Yiddish Song Festival in the Baxter Theatre has to be THE event of the year! It features singers Aviva Pelham, Beverley Chiat, Ivor Joffe, David Gordon, Dragana Jevtovic, Richard Gore and Caely Levy, and they are backed by PLAYING WITH FIRE. This popular event usually fills the Baxter Theatre for two shows on the same day. It is produced and directed by Philip Todres as a fundraiser for the Cape Jewish Seniors. Staging is by Irma Kesler and the two musical directors are myself and Fay Singer.

Two years ago the festival hosted international singer Bente Kahan. Later this year (scheduled for 15th August) it hopes to host the renowned Klezmer clarinettist Andy Statman. This year is not only the tenth Yiddish Song Festival, but the twenty-fifth year of the Cape Jewish Seniors.

The company is proud to announce the completion of a CD now available. It is called "Cape Town Zing!" and can be ordered from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 

My involvement in Jewish Wedding Ceremonies has come from a long friendship with Cantor Ivor Joffe of the Seapoint Shul with whom I share a passion for folk music from Eastern Europe. I have collaborated with him on several projects apart from the annual Yiddish Song Festival: the show “Rumania! Rumania!” which we took to the Oudtshoorn KKNK and the Paarl Cultivaria Festival, also the show “Sheyn vi di L'vone” which we performed for Morning Melodies at the Baxter Theatre and Bellville Civic Centre. He has also sung as a guest artist when PLAYING WITH FIRE has given Sunday morning breakfast concerts at the South African Jewish Museum.


At Jewish weddings I usually support Ivor as a keyboard player and accompanist. Our musical teamwork is much admired and appreciated among the Jewish community in Cape Town. I am often asked to augment our duo with a violinist, clarinetist and/or a double bassist. The trio of musicians lends itself happily to a funky ensemble for pre-drinks music. I also often support Ivor by playing the saxophone in a hora and reception.