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Klezmer #1

Klezmer - 1 Conquista dell'Est

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Venite a incontrare Noah Davidovich e
la sua improbabile banda di musicisti!
Preparatevi a scoprire una lingua, uno
stile, una musica dal tempo strappato;
a innamorarvi al ritmo di un ritornello
mille volte unico; ad ascoltare una
storia tenera e violenta, divertente e
tragica, e soprattutto a capire in quanti
guai può cacciarsi una folk band.
Preparatevi a Klezmer!



Il klezmer è una musica d’improvvisazione pura, che nella cultura ebraica accompagna feste di matrimonio, funerali o semplici episodi di vita quotidiana, ed è capace di esprimere entusiasmo e felicità come sofferenza e malinconia. Musica “selvaggia”, imprevedibile come i componenti della scalcagnata, esilarante banda protagonista di quest’ultimo libro di Sfar: il Barone, involontario fondatore e “capo” del gruppo; Chava, una giovane, bella donna che ha lasciato il suo piccolo villaggio per unirsi come cantante alla compagnia; Yaacov e Vincenzo, allontanati ognuno dalla propria yeshiva per improbabili furti, e Ciokolà, uno zingaro grande e grosso inseguito dai cosacchi. Personaggi indimenticabili che nei coloratissimi acquarelli di Sfar – artista tra i più apprezzati della sua generazione – raccontano la vita delle comunità ebraiche dell’Europa dell’Est prima della Seconda guerra mondiale, ridando vita alle emozioni, ai sogni, alle gioie e ai dolori di un popolo irrevocabilmente trasformato dalla storia del ventesimo secolo.

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

6 people are currently reading
402 people want to read

About the author

Joann Sfar

485 books508 followers
Joann Sfar (born August 28, 1971 in Nice) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, and film director.

Sfar is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu and six other artists. He also worked together with many of the new movement's main artists, e.g. David B. and Lewis Trondheim. The Donjon series which he created with Trondheim has a cult following in many countries.

Some of his comics are inspired by his Jewish heritage as the son of Jewish parents (an Ashkenazi mother and a Sephardic father). He himself says that there is Ashkenazi humor in his Professeur Bell series (loosely based on Joseph Bell), whereas Le chat du rabbin is clearly inspired by his Sephardic side. Les olives noires is a series about a Jewish child in Israel at the time of Jesus. Like Le chat du rabbin, the series contains a lot of historical and theological information.

His main influences are Fred and André Franquin as well as Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Will Eisner, Hugo Pratt and John Buscema.

From 2009 to 2010, Sfar wrote and directed 'Serge Gainsbourgh: Une Vie Heroique', a biopic of the notorious French songwriter, of whom Sfar is a self-confessed fanatic. The film, which draws substantially on Sfar's abilities as a comic book artist through its extensive use of fantasy artwork, animation and puppetry, was released in 2010 to general critical acclaim.

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5 stars
168 (25%)
4 stars
281 (43%)
3 stars
175 (26%)
2 stars
25 (3%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Rachel.
1,906 reviews40 followers
July 4, 2022
This book puts together an interesting cast of characters in my grandparents' time and place: Eastern European Jews (and one gypsy) in the early 20th century. They are surrounded by rampant and deadly anti-Semitism, but keep playing music. I had some trouble following the story in the middle, when two separate groups formed, and only got what was happening when they came together at the end. I did like it, and wish there were English translations of the later books. The group was pretty engaging and I'd love to see what they did next.

Profile Image for Przemysław Skoczyński.
1,412 reviews48 followers
December 27, 2019
Sfar w formie. "Klezmerzy" to przepełniona nostalgią historia grajków-wędrowców przemierzających Europę wschodnią. Kultura żydowska i cygańskie bajdurzenie. Pocztówka z pięknego, choć okrutnego i surowego świata, którego już nie ma, ubarwiona pięknymi akwarelami i tekstami okolicznościowymi autora zamieszczonymi na końcu każdego tomu. Cudo.

(dotyczy tomu 1 i 2)
Profile Image for Senga krew_w_piach.
805 reviews98 followers
May 26, 2021
Joann Sfar, francuski twórca komiksów żydowskiego pochodzenia, znany z cyklu „Kot rabina”, tym razem zabiera nas w podróż do Europy Wschodniej. Do świata, którego już nie ma. Gdzie Żydzi i Cyganie żyją obok innych narodów, mają swoje miejsce, język i kulturę. Można ich spotkać w małych szetlach i dużych miastach. Chłopcy pilnie słuchają w jesziwach swoich rabich i nie chcą narazić się na ich gniew. Żyje się według prostych zasad i tańczy przy radosnej muzyce.
To świat, który znamy z kart książek Izaaka Singera i obrazów Marca Chagalla. To Odessa Izaaka Babla. Wypełniony mądrościami, przypowieściami i humorem aszkenazyjskich Żydów, narysowany cienką, czarną kreską tuszu i żywą, nieposkromioną plamą farby, wypełniony żywymi, niepodporządkowanymi dźwiękami klezmerskiej muzyki. To jest mój świat. Zakochałam się.
Profile Image for Graziano.
903 reviews4 followers
November 13, 2018
Klezmer è una musica dal tempo strappato, una musica a brandelli, una musica in rosso e bianco, sangue su neve, che ha lo humour e la nostalgia del grande filosofo Charlie Chaplin.
(da qualche parte all'inizio)
Profile Image for Damon.
396 reviews6 followers
June 6, 2011
There's a really great balance between lighthearted and dark in this book, but despite horrible things happening, the characters keep a... maybe not exactly "positive " outlook, but they don't dwell on these things. They keep moving forward, living however they have to. From reading the fairly extensive backmatter by Sfar (which is one of the best things about the book overall) I'd guess that this is meant as sort of a larger comment on the Jewish experience in Europe to some extent, in addition to being a direct comment on that historical period.

Sfar also tries a looser, more brushy style in an attempt to make a visual parallel to the spirit of klezmer music. I'm not sure that he's 100% successful here, or that it was even necessary, as his drawing alone seems to capture that kind of thing pretty well.
Profile Image for Frank McGirk.
868 reviews6 followers
November 30, 2016
So why do I love French comics? A roving Klezmer band gets slaughtered by a rival town band, worried about competition in the first few pages: that's why I like French comics. I'm very often surprised.

The story, while interesting, is not phenomenal in itself, but the author's notes at the end were especially compelling as he compared these characters to those in his Rabbi's Cat books. Explained one of the characters as like the cat, but "no longer afraid of hurting the one's he loves." Short but insightful looks into race relations and the use of history to promote political ends.

See? Unexpected!
Profile Image for Lenny.
505 reviews38 followers
December 21, 2024
Joann Sfar paints a beautiful, though also dark and violent, tale of Jewish musicians. Klezmer bands were popular among Jewish communities in Eastern Europe before World War II, playing in celebrations and festivals. Sfar captures the rugged, harsh beauty of the music and Yiddish language in his storytelling and lose, vivid watercolor work, and draws upon material from master Jewish storyteller Isaac Babel, even quoting him midway through the book. While I enjoyed his other graphic novel The Rabbi's Cat better, this is still a work of art.
Profile Image for Eric Orchard.
Author 13 books91 followers
June 26, 2012
Every time I read a book by Sfar I'm just blown away by his versatility, storytelling skills and drawing that seems to leap from the page. This comic is wonderful, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Profile Image for Romain.
934 reviews58 followers
May 28, 2020
> Raconter les choses comme elles se sont vraiment produites, c’est tellement moche que ça devrait être interdit. Je t’invente une histoire, c’est la moindre des politesses.

Lorsque j’ai lu Klezmer pour la première fois, j’ai été tellement séduit par le travail à l’aquarelle que j’ai acheté une petite boîte de peinture de voyage. De retour à la maison je me suis mis à reproduire la vue d’Odessa, tout en bleu pétrole et Orange coucher de soleil, qui est reprise dans la préface – je l’ai toujours et je garde un bon souvenir de cette expérience.

Quelque chose m’a profondément plu dans ce travail graphique. Je pense que c’est lié à l’imperfection, la spontanéité qui en émane et qui créé l’émotion. Les variations entre les niveaux de précision des dessins, les façon différentes d’appliquer les couleurs en sont un exemple. Puisque l’on parle des couleurs, il y a une dominante, mais Joann Sfar fait toujours en sorte qu’elles prennent leur distance avec la réalité. Sur ce plan graphique, il me semble qu’il réalise une de ses plus belle oeuvre. La façon brute de présenter ses planches en fait la démonstration, on dirait que tout est naturel, immédiat, un talent pareil est impressionnant – et presque insolant.

Il en va de même pour les textes, – on en a l’habitude, mais – tout est écrit à la main comme s’il rédigeait un brouillon et pourtant tout fonctionne, tout est intelligent, construit, il y a du fond dans les dialogues comme dans le récitatif. Si vous en voulez encore, prenez le temps de lire les notes situées en fin de volume – celles du second tomes sont encore mieux.

L’histoire est celle de musiciens que le destin va rapprocher. Dans ce premier tome, on apprend un peu de leur histoire et on assiste à leur première rencontre qui les mènera jusqu’à Odessa. Je me suis toujours souvenu d’une séquence qui relève de l’anecdote, mais qui m’a marqué. Un rabbin s’est fait voler son manteau, voici comment il s’y prend pour identifier le voleur.

> Hier soir, lorsque j’ai découvert que mon manteau avait disparu, j’ai fait une opération de Kabbalah afin que m’apparaisse le visage du voleur. Sur un miroir brisé, avec l’ongle de mon pouce, j’ai tracé un cercle noir. Cette marque, le voleur l’a sur le front. Et il est parmi vous. À cet instant, un garçon qui se tenait dans le fond de la salle porte la main à son front.

Parler de musique n’est pas chose aisée, Sfar le fait avec un tel talent que c’est presque indécent. Klezmer figure sans nul doute à côté du Chat du Rabbin parmi les chefs-d’oeuvre de Sfar et parmi les très grandes bandes dessinées.

Également publié sur mon blog.
Profile Image for paola.
239 reviews30 followers
March 19, 2017
Il primo tomo della serie Klezmer, nonché l'unico (per ora, spero) tradotto in italiano, è una sorta di prologo, racconta l'assemblarsi abbastanza casuale della banda di musicisti klezmer protagonista del racconto; il loro incontro è anche l'incontro delle loro storie, del loro modo di far musica, in un'Europa dell'Est di inizio Novecento dove già imperversa l'anti-semitismo (con i terribili pogrom) e dove sia ebrei che zingari (uno dei musicisti è il gitano Ciokolà*) sono vittime di pregiudizi e violenze e dove la musica diventa un mezzo del racconto, al pari degli acquarelli coloratissimi e 'movimentati' di Sfar, dove - quando necessario - l'urgenza della storia ha la meglio sulla nitidezza del tratto.
Si tratta di una storia che sente il peso del dovere del ricordo, del racconto di una realtà ormai inesistente (sebbene ancora la musica Klezmer venga suonata è scomparso il contesto in cui è nata e si è sviluppata) e - come mi è capitato di riscontrare in tutti i miei 'incontri' sia con la musica klezmer che con la letteratura yiddish e più in generale ebraica - ha in sé un delicato equilibrio tra gioia e dolore, tra ironia e rassegnazione; è il clarinetto che allo stesso tempo imita una risata e un pianto sconsolato, è il tipo di ironia che fa dire a Tevye il lattivendolo qualcosa di simile al 'Signore ti ringrazio di averci reso il tuo popolo eletto, però se ogni tanto ti volessi ricordare degli altri e lasciare un po' tranquilli noi va bene lo stesso, eh!', è quel coacervo di contraddizioni che rendono la cultura ebraica incredibilmente affascinante e, da ultimo, per Sfar è anche un qualcosa di personale, un omaggio dovuto alla storia della sua famiglia, alle sue radici.






*zingari ed ebrei che suonano insieme mi ha fatto venire alla mente la bellissima scena del film Train de Vie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4esV...
Profile Image for Greg S.
708 reviews18 followers
February 27, 2022
I like to thank my library. Without them I would have never stumbled onto this.

The art work reminds me of Yoshihiro Togashi after he started having serious health issues.

The brevity is refreshing.

It’s always a good start having your characters down in the lowest of gutters.

It was very easy to find myself immersed and losing track of time reading this.

The way the people lie to each other, the hesitation, the wariness, it’s all very engrossing. And they’re are all on the worst day of their lives, which helps.

The three archetypes are cute, and you only realize they’re archetypes after finishing and enjoying the story. Pathos, Logos, Ethos.

I like the cultural exchanges that happen between Yaacov and Tshokola.

Of course it’s also interesting when the second story meets the first story in a bar and merge.

And it ends on an unforeseeable cliff hanger!
Profile Image for Dariusz Płochocki.
449 reviews25 followers
March 13, 2019
Ciekawa wyprawa na tereny dzisiejszej Ukrainy, gdzieś do czasów początku XX wieku, opowiedziana i narysowana przez twórcę "Kota rabina". Bardzo mądre posłowie, pokazujace Sfara jako lewicowego intelektualistę zawieszonego między tradycją Sefardu i Aszkenazu w współczesnej Francji. Dwóch uczniów wydalonych z Jesziwy, muzykant-weteran bez trupy, dziewczyna chcąca śpiewać, uciekająca ze sztetla i w końcu cyg...Rom, próbujący snuć żydowskie historie, zadziwiająca grupa/trupa pojawiająca się w Odessie rodem z opowiadań Babla. Szkoda, że KG porzuciła wydawanie dalszych tomów, ale ptaszki ćwierkają, że ma do tego wrócić. :)
154 reviews
March 21, 2022
Read this after dancing behind my local neighborhood klezmer band for hours at a small town purim parade with lots of paper mache puppets and songs to summon spring. This book was funny but much darker/more violent than I had anticipated. I was riveted by the story and the watercolors but maybe even more so by the several pages of text at the very end ruminating on diaspora and what being Jewish is or isn’t.
Profile Image for Maria Łepkowska.
1 review
August 27, 2017
Amazing storytelling and lots of useful explanations of the cultural background, complete with the names of the songs used in the story.

The drawing style, however, is very expressive, even for Sfar, to a point where it's almost unintelligible. I usually enjoy his sketchy, sloppy drawings, but this is a bit much.
Profile Image for P42.
314 reviews1,686 followers
Read
November 11, 2019
Trudno mi ocenić tę powieść graficzną. Z pewnością na uwagę zasługuje tutaj abstrakcyjny styl autora, plamy kolorów, oszczędność, która daje prawdziwie oniryczny klimat. Jednocześnie historia jest tak naprawdę wstępem do głównej fabuły, pokazuje nam origin paczki bohaterów, z jaką spędzimy ciąg dalszy Klezmerów
Profile Image for Ajk.
305 reviews20 followers
September 21, 2020
This was really a blast to zoom through. I dont think the other ones in the series have been translates into English yet, and honestly, that’s fine.
The afterword itself is the sort of thing I wish I read 15 years ago. Except for the weird Tariq Ramadan aside, it’s the sort of lucid “what is Judaism in the 21st century?” thing that’s often absent from Jewish pedagogy.
25 reviews1 follower
July 17, 2025
Kolejna żydowskie bajanie, tym razem w formie komiksu, które powiela znane stereotypy i oszczerstwa wobec innych narodów.
Nie brakuje odniesień do pogromów i rzekomej nienawiści wszystkich wobec „starszych braci”.
W momencie gdy chłopstwo zostało ukazane jako bezmyślne, brutalne osoby z twarzami przypominającymi małpy, przerwałem lekturę.
Profile Image for Greg.
1,605 reviews24 followers
December 24, 2020
Sfar makes me want to learn French just so I can read the rest of his work. I loved these characters and how they come together and would relish the opportunity to follow their story further. I also appreciated the notes at the end which dive into the author’s own thoughts on Judaism.
Profile Image for frankie.
125 reviews
December 27, 2018
i really enjoyed the art style and use of color but i’m a fool and can’t read cursive and also some parts made me feel a little uncomfortable
Profile Image for Daniel Krolik.
245 reviews1 follower
December 29, 2019
A beautiful and surprising tale, with a set of author's notes that border on the incendiary. I really loved this first volume, but can't seem to find the subsequent volumes in English.
47 reviews
April 4, 2023
Chouette plongée dans l'univers de ces musiciens nomades. J'ai eu un peu de mal à accrocher à l'histoire.
Profile Image for Tommy W.
77 reviews
February 9, 2025
Brilliant and gorgeous! Might have to brush up my French and pick up the four volumes never translated to English
Profile Image for Thomas De Ceglie.
259 reviews4 followers
January 4, 2022
I wanted to like this more than I did, but I think it will get better in future installments
Profile Image for Chelsea Martinez.
633 reviews4 followers
January 3, 2019
My favorite part of this book, no dig against the story itself, was the end matter the author includes about their journey to making the comic.
Profile Image for Ashur.
274 reviews5 followers
March 5, 2017
I first encountered Sfar through The Rabbi's Cat. I love love klezmer music, so this was a no-brainer. This feels like a series (is this a series?) and I want to see the further adventures of the musicians! I really appreciate the Q&A at the end of the book because Sfar details what songs are referenced/performed in the story, along with recommendations for particular recordings. I need to do more research now.
83 reviews3 followers
March 15, 2021
Interesting concept and lovely story. This first volume feels like a classic tale of how a group of misfits and outsiders get together to create something beautiful. The author notes at the end of the book are a nice add, dwelling on the general European Jewish sentiment, way-of-seeing things and personal feelings of the author on the matter. One star just for mentioning the songs in the book! Unfortunately, since this is the only volume translated into English (so far) I'll have to settle with just this one.

Not a big fan of the art though, felt a bit all over the place sometimes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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