The Nudeniks

The Nudeniks first rubbed shoulders at the 1996 Scandinavian Klezmer Festival.  Though barely knowing each other, they quickly acknowledged the bond between them and formed the band known the world over for their truly raw klezmer sound.

They are:

Derf Buffhiede:    Vocals, Timberring, Triangle (Look this up in Yiddish!)

Doogle Kaltenbaum:    Upright Elkhorn

Goethe Jael Oglarski:    Baldelalke

Lino Klarrtuche:    Lekkerhorn

 
During a cold snap at the Helsinki City Carnival, Doogle broke his jaw on a piece of frozen gefilte fish and for a week or two the band thought they were finnished.  Seeking a warmer climate, they made arrangements to establish a new home in Bunyip, Australia.  This introduced much legal complexity and contractual obligations saw them leave Scandinavia divested of their assets with nothing but the shirts off their backs.  Efforts to find evidence strong enough to detain the band in Europe revealed there was nothing on any of the band’s members!

A lot has been seen of The Nudeniks throughout Australian folk festivals during the ensuing years.

They unveiled their first CD “Birthday Suite” in 1998.  The title track features sparse instrumental lines with Roumanian figures and influence eventually taciting to allow the highly exposed solo vocal entry with Derf sounding stark but comfortable in “Some Skins Are Just The Same”.  Also very notable is “A Shor Ersht Nokh Mayn Khasene” (An hour after my wedding) which has some interesting cord changes and a cheeky little crease in the coda.

The engineering lacks somewhat.  There aren’t enough ‘tops’ for my liking and way too much ‘bottoms’ and when the instrumentalists are working closely together the signal is a little compressed.  (CD Emperor Records 2UCwotIC)
 
 
 
 

nudnik /noodnik/,   n.  1. one who lacks sense; a silly or stupid person    2. an incompetent