Frank London’s new Hanukkah album goes from stoner to solidarity to shakin’ it
Frank London’s new Hanukkah album goes from stoner to solidarity to shakin’ it
The Grammy-winning musician’s new album “Chronika” mixes klezmer with just about everything you can imagine.
Frank London had been sitting on a treasure trove of recordings for nearly 15 years before dusting them off to create his new album, “Chronika.” The eclectic, danceable throwback to folk-inspired club music was released on Borscht Beat on December 26.
In 2008, Frank London had been frequenting a Bulgarian club which was having a musical moment. The Mehanata Bulgarian Bar in Manhattan’s Lower East Side was at the time home to an undeniable blend of world music. “Balkan-Gypsy-Cumbia club mixes. We would play and then these DJs would blast this dance floor club music,” said London, reflecting on Mehanata’s musical fusion.
Mehanata was an important breeding ground for folk music crossovers. Eugene Hütz of the band Gogol Bordello got his start there. “I was a Ukrainian DJ spinning Gypsy records in a bar in Chinatown — it doesn’t get more New York than that,” Hütz said in a 2006 New York Times interview. Another mainstay of Mehanata at the time, and friend of London’s, was Bulgarian DJ Joro-Boro who had a residency there alongside Hütz.
In 2008, London tapped Joro-Boro and a bunch of musician friends to make a klezmer dance recording. Over two days, London and friends made a handful of recordings while jamming out over Joro-Boro’s DJing. “But then life just happened and gigs and tours and other commitments. I knew [the recordings] were sitting there, unfinished. It weighed on me that I’d never finished it because I knew it was good,” London said.
Fast forward to 2023, London had been collaborating with Aaron Bendich on curating concerts for the Yiddish New York festival. “Somewhere along the way, I realized I was going to finish this record that became Chronika. I had an intuitive sense that it would make sense to work with [Bendich],” said London.
While the recordings from Chronika came from a single two-day recording session, the tracks that London and Bendich ended up with are incredibly eclectic. “It doesn’t really fall squarely into any genre category. It’s almost a cop out to just call it klezmer — klezmer being an ill-defined category to begin with,” said Bendich.
While “Chronika” reflects Mehenata’s already genre-bending club sound, London’s imagination adds even more diversity to an already well-seasoned gumbo of music. The album has Hanukkah songs, Hasidic nigunim, West Indian soca along with influences from Herbie Hancock, electronica, dub and more.
The tracks “TOPZ” and “GREEKZ” put high energy danceable spins on the classic Hanukkah songs “S’vivon” and “Yevonim” respectively. “TOPZ” in particular has an intense clarinet solo from Michael Winograd along with interpolated riffs taken from folklorist Moisei Beregovsky’s collection of klezmer music transcriptions. Both “TOPZ” and “GREEKZ” have accompanying music videos as well.
Bendich and London both point to the track “UNITY” aka “Carnival in Crown Heights” as the album’s centerpiece. The track is both personal and aspirational for London. For nearly 30 years of his career, he’s played gigs in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Crown Heights is home to both large Hasidic Jewish and West Indian communities, both of which London has played amongst.
The track features West Indian soca music and lyrics written by London set against the “Rosh Kodesh Kislev Nign,” a popular Hasidic melody by Rabbi Feitel Levin who resides in Crown Heights. “I have a dream for Hasids and West Indians to be dancing together, either on Purim or the Labor Day Parade. Put it to this music blasting out of a sound system — that’s my dream,” said London.
Among many sounds to listen for, London’s collaboration and creativity stands out above all as he describes the album. The album is a long-awaited continuation of London’s series of albums with his “Klezmer Brass Allstars” — a motley crew of instrumentalists London has called on for collaboration over the years.
An important collaborator and personal hero of London’s is the late guitarist, Yosi Piamenta z”l. “Truly a legend…he was called the ‘Hasidic Hendrix’ and he changed Hasidic music totally. It was great to have him play on the record,” said London. “Chronika” also features two remix tracks: one of “GREEKZ” by Curha and “TOPZ” by Sam Day Harmet.
The Hanukkah stoner vibe of the album’s name and artwork came as a happy afterthought as London was figuring out how to tie the album together conceptually. “Chronika” and the album’s stylized artwork are a Judaized reference to Dr. Dre’s classic hip-hop album, “The Chronic.” London also notes that the album’s music is incredibly fun to listen to while stoned.
Bendich, who is ever-opinionated on Jewish music, noted his delight at working with London on the album. “It’s been a crazy, amazing pleasure to work on this album, because it’s just absolutely fantastic music,” said Bendich.
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