Ferenc Jávori (Jakubovics) is one of the most prolofic and unusaual composers from Central Europe who played an important role in introducing klezmer music to the popular music scene, musical theater, ballett stage, and in classical concerts hall. His ability to cooperate with collegues in different fields and bring to them a different creative energy rooted in his beloved traditional Jewish music is exemplary. In only a few years he has become an important figure in the European music world.

Jávori and his band, the Budapest Klezmer Band are the recipients of several awards for their achievements. Among them are the coveted Kodály Prize and Artisjus Prize for Best Production. Jávori won a State Prize in 2003, August. He is the composer of Purim, The Casting of Fate, a production of the Győr National Ballet, which received critical acclaim around Europe; the arranger for klezmer music of the musical Fiddler on the Roof at the Madách Theater production in Budapest; the composer of Klezmer Suite which has been performed and recorded by the famous Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra under the direction of János Rolla. But foremost he has arranged many klezmer tunes, most from his own collection, for the Budapest Klezmer Band which he founded 20 years ago.

Jávori was born in a Hungarian-Jewish community of Munkács (Munkacevo), now politically part of Ukraine. This city had a very prominent Jewish population prior to WWII and klezmer music was alive in this area. Jávori collected many tunes and songs from the last living informants of this once vibrant musical culture. The foundations of Jávori's research are also rooted in the works of Mose Beregovsky, who collected and published klezmer tunes from the 1920's and Michail Stuchevsky, the theoretical researcher of Yiddish music and Gyula Galambos, the Gipsy musician who preserved many klezmer melodies of famous musicians and who perished during the Holocaust. Jávori is a classical trained musician who graduated from the Music Academy of Ungvár (Ukraine).

Klezmer music is believed to be one of the greatest treasures of the Yiddish culture, enjoying a strong comeback in recent years. This is the music which builds bridges between Jewish and non-Jewish people, everyone exposed to it will enjoy and identify with it. Klezmer music seems to diminish political borders of Europe and has a strong connection to American Jazz. The revival movement originated from the USA, but it's roots are in Eastern-Central Europe, in the very area where Ferenc Jávori was born and where he popularised it. His devotion traditional Jewish music, and his ability to present it to wide audiences makes him an important musical figure in Europe and around the world.

Jávori's strong desire and boundless energy to incorporate his musical tradition into the global musical culture will continue to drive him to achieve new levels of artistic successes.


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