Pincus & The Pig: A Klezmer Tale

'Did you hear of Boychick Pincus, how he opened wide the gate and hippety-hopped over the sweet warm meadow?' So begins Maurice Sendak's charming and hilarious retelling of Prokofiev's classic children's legend Peter and the Wolf where Peter has become Pincus and the wolf is Chozzer Pig. Together with the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, Sendak has created a Jewish tour de force, resonating with dark Jewish humor and mysterious subtexts. Prokofiev's timeless compositions receive the brilliant Shirim twist, and Sendak's striking drawings are highlighted in a full color booklet and a bonus sheet of collectible stickers. Years in the making, Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale is a delightfully entertaining romp for the entire family exploring the deep relationship between Jewish and Russian music, culture and story. John Zorn's Tzadik label is known for putting out, among other things, a variety of radical Jewish music projects, but there is nothing radical about Pincus And The Pig. Here the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra teams up with noted illustrator and children's book author Maurice Sendak (Where The Wild Things Are) for a decidedly Yiddish retelling of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter And The Wolf. The band (which also did Klezmer Nutcracker) plays a fun style of traditional klezmer with original instrumentation, but it's Sendak who really ups the ante by rewriting the story and narrating it with the hammed-up flair of a favorite Jewish uncle as he tosses in such colorful expressions as "Meshuga" and "Nudnik." (A booklet accompanies the album so listeners and follow along, and there's also a glossary of the terminology.) Sendak also does the artwork, which includes drawings of the characters, and kids even get stickers of the characters. Yes, the kitsch factor on this Bubeleh is up there, but everyone involved seems to be having fun with it, and so should listeners. -- Tad Hendrickson

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