The Amsterdam Klezmer Band’s roots grow both from the streets and the music conservatory. The band loves tradition and innovation, blows down festival tents, the roof off concert halls and draws tears in theaters. The AKB has been active in making music for more than 25 years.

The music of the Amsterdam Klezmer Band is a vibrant mix of klezmer, balkan, ska, jazz, gipsy, oriental and hip hop. It is an energetic mix of styles that is guaranteed to lead to a big party in any live situation.

The band not only played at major festivals in Europe such as Lowlands, North Sea Jazz Festival and Sziget, but they also played at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Cité de la Musique in Paris and at the jazz festival in Hong Kong.

The original line-up of the band consists of Job Chajes (sax and raps), Janfie van Strien (clarinet, percussion), Gijs Levelt (Trumpet), Joop van der Linden (trombone and guitar), Jasper de Beer (Bass), Theo van Tol (accordion) and Alec Kopyt (percussion and vocals). Theo van Tol unfortunately passed away in 2023 and was succeeded by Ellen van Vliet.

18 albums have now been released. They entered collaboration with Söndörgő, Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra, Galata Gypsy Band and many others. Soundtracks have been released for, among others, the film “le Chat du Rabbin” by Joann Sfar and music for the nature documentary “De Wilde Stad”.

With this impressive musical portfolio and the position, the band has acquired, the AKB feels responsible for maintaining and passing on the Klezmer tradition. In that context, the Amsterdam Klezmer Academy was founded in 2023 with support from the AFK. The AKB play-along book with sheet music and play-along tracks was published in 2023.

The most recent album “Bomba Pop” was released at the beginning of 2024. An album on which the Amsterdam Klezmer Band collaborated with Ulf Lindemann aka Dunkelbunt, a German DJ-producer living in Vienna who has made his mark playing, producing and remixing various styles of world music.