Black Ox Orkestar began in the summer of 2000, the project of four Montreal musicians exploring their common Jewish heritage for sounds that could speak to them today. Listening to pre-war recordings of Jewish and non-Jewish music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, they wanted to capture the rawness and emotional intensity they heard there. They also threw their own musical histories into the mix, their years of playing out-jazz, punk rock, or weird folk, creating not so much a fusion of old and new as a way to tear the old sounds from the past and make them resonate in the present.
Ver tanzt ?
Ver Tanzt? is the debut album of Black Ox Orkestar, a Montreal-based band. The lyrics on the album are spoken in Yiddish and talk about the Jewish diaspora.
"Shvartze Flamen, Vayser Fayer"–2:34
"Papir Iz Dokh Vays"–4:13
"Fishelakh in Vaser"–3:29
"Cretan Song"–2:28
"Ver Tanzt?"–3:17
"Stav Ya Pitv"–3:51
"Nign"–2:42
"Toyte Goyes in Shineln"–3:42
"Kalarash"–3:04
"Forn Forstv"–2:26
"Skocne"–2:21
"Moscowitz Terkisher"–3:10
"Di Khasene"–5:42
