Diaspora in Buenos Aires

This is an intimate document of a Jewish family in Argentina remembering their roots in Eastern Europe. Pianist Andrés Linetzky is best-known on the tango scene in Buenos Aires, but he is from a family of klezmer musicians from the city of Belz, a town which, over the course of the 20th century, was part of Poland, occupied by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 44, then became part of the Soviet Union until Ukrainian independence in 1991. Like many East European Jews, Andrés’ grandfather, José Linetzky, emigrated in 1929 to Argentina and brought with him his mandolin. In their new home, the family kept playing klezmer, more as a family tradition, it seems, than a public one.

The music in the family seems to mirror the diaspora story at large. The first-generation immigrants were not so interested in the klezmer tradition and it has been revived by Andrés, the grandson. Track 23 is a recording from 1988 of grandfather José (aged 72) playing mandolin with grandson Andrés (aged 14) on piano. And there are seven family members on this record, the most impressive being Bruno Linetzky on clarinet. There’s nothing particularly unusual about the arrangements or the music, with lots of familiar tunes from the klezmer repertoire – and a profound air of nostalgia. There’s one slow lyrical tune called ‘Belz’ which keeps returning. In a microcosm of one family, this album reveals the transmission of musical tradition.