Vibrant and soulful, Klezmer is the traditional instrumental music of the Eastern European Jews. Emerging in post medieval Eastern Europe, professional folk musicians, the Klezmorim, played at Jewish and gentile celebrations, the courts of the Hassidic rebbes (religious leaders) and for the non-Jewish aristocracy. With roots in the vocal music of the synagogue, the Klezmorim adopted techniques from other European dance and folk music and incorporated melodic ideas from Greco-Turkish popular music.

In the twentieth century, Klezmorim were among those who emigrated West, many ending up in America. The music formed part of the Yiddish culture, captured on record, in film, performed in music halls and still played at Jewish celebrations up to the fifties. Nearly lost, the music was rediscovered in the seventies and is now thriving in Europe and America.

Originally a klezmer was a professional musician who played in a small band called a klezmorim, at Jewish and non-Jewish weddings, and, rarely, at other events. In early times, Klezmorim belonged to closed guilds, and membership was passed down from grandfather to father to son. So "klezmer" referred to people and not to a style. Now the style has become known as klezmer it makes it easier for the record companies to categorise!

Amateurs played Jewish music too but not generally at weddings. It was said "if you want to know how many men there are in a house, look at the walls and count the fiddles". Klezmer musicians had some similarities with gypsy musicians - Gypsies were the only other professional folk musicians.