Tummel is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

band formed in 1997. Tummel plays music that combines traditional klezmer sounds with influences from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

of Sweden and the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Albums

Tummel has released three albums: their debut ''Oy!'' (see image) appeared in 2001, ''Transit'' came out in 2004, and ''Payback Time'' in 2009.''Payback Time'' reviewed in ''Sydsvenskan'', March 31, 2009
As the cover of ''Oy!'' shows, Tummel combines a range of jazz instruments including flute and tuba.

Lineup

The band's lineup has changed several times. It started out as Annika Jessen on

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and vocals, Jonathan Aisen

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, Pär Moberg on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, Øvind Alexander Slaatto on helicon, Tobias Allvin on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and bouzouki, Andreas Rudenå,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and guitar and Edin Bahtijaragić on

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

Reception

Chris Nickson, writing on CD Universe, praises Tummel's lively performance: ''"A Danish/Swedish band with no deep Jewish roots playing klezmer? Well, why not, especially when it's done as well as Tummel does on Klezmer."'' Robert M Tilendis, writing in Green Man Review, is impressed by Tummel: :''"Think about the band playing on while the Titanic goes down. Think of some of Joel Gray's bitchier numbers in Cabaret. Think of Josephine Baker at her most outrageous taking Paris by storm. Think of a bunch of crazy Swedes with no inhibitions whatsoever getting together and letting everyone have it, right between the eyes. That might give an inkling of the tone of Tummel's Payback Time."''Green Man Review - Tummel 'Payback Time'
Retrieved 29 October 2011 Tilendis continues :''"It's somewhere between tango and klezmer, but it could be straight out of some Paris bistro ca. 1927, and it's no holds barred."'' Tilendis in particular praises vocalist Jens Friis-Hansen: :''"he reveals himself as a very talented and versatile singer".'' Eelco Schilder, reviewing Tummel's ''Oy'' on Folkworld CD Reviews, writes: :''"Oy is a fresh, strong cd and highly recommended to everybody who likes Klezmer music."'' Ben Ohmart, writing in ''The Muse's Muse'', comments playfully that :''"The squeak of the bed (or outside swing), the dog calls, the regal fun that breezes through like a big-nosed circus on its way to a bath is just a delight from morn to night."'' Alexander Agrell, reviewing ''Payback Time'' (in Swedish) in the ''

Sydsvenskan ''Sydsvenska Dagbladet Snällposten'', generally known simply as ''Sydsvenskan'' (, ''The South Swedish''), is a daily newspaper published in Scania in Sweden. History and profile ''Sydsvenskan'' was founded in 1870. In 1871 the paper merged w ...

'' newspaper, notes that the lineup has changed (Annika Jessen the clarinetist has left), but awards the album a "Plus for humour, cool English lyrics and the originality of the whole thing". He hears influences from rock music, punk, heavy metal, cabaret and even

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

in the album. A staff reporter from Skanskan.se described (in Swedish) the experience of arriving at a Tummel gig: "The desire to dance and clap in time arises immediately. Your thoughts turn to blazing camp fires and swirling skirts."'Musikaliskt tumlande' ('Musical Tumbling/Tummel-ing')
Skanskan.se. (with Video) 23 January 2011.

References

Sydsvenskan articles

Sydsvenskan.se. Emma Thörnkvist. 4 February 2011. (Journalist Emma Thörnkvist lists the band's website as "the best site".)

Sydsvenskan.se. Alexander Agrell. (Tummel used as a reference when describing another klezmer band in a review)

Sydsvenskan.se. Håkan Engström. 4 February 2009
'Husband på Apornas planet' ('House band on the Planet of the Apes')
(an article and a blog post, both by ''Sydsvenskan's'' regular rock critic Håkan Engström, about the band "Babian" in which it is specially noticed that some of members of that band are former Tummel musicians)

Sydsvenskan.se. Per Ek. 1 February 2009. (Article about the annual klezmer festival of Lund, where one of the other participating artists is quoted as saying that "many are probably coming just to see Tummel")

Skanskan articles

'Musikaliskt tumlande' ('Musical Tumbling/Tummel-ing')
Skanskan.se. 23 January 2011.
'Ny röst åt Tummel' ('A new voice for Tummel')
Skanskan.se. 2 April 2009.
'Tummel i Eslövs Medborgarhus' ('Tummel in Eslöv's Town Hall')
Skanskan.se. 1 April 2009.
'Läger och konsert med Tummel' ('Camps and Concerts with Tummel')
Skanskan.se. 4 December 2008.
'Klezmermusik och balkanpop till Tygegården' ('Klezmer Music and Balkan Pop at Tygegården')
Skanskan.se. Evelina Olsson. 8 September 2008

Television appearances

'Veckans konsert' ('Concert of the Week')
Swedish national television. 6 November 2001. a performance by the band has been broadcast as "Veckans konsert" (concert of the week) on Swedish national television

External links

Tummel's homepage
{{Authority control Swedish musical groups Klezmer groups