Simon Starr brings new band YID! to In One Night Jewish festival, Elsternwick

AN eclectic 24-piece band called YID! will perform in Glen Eira.

Organiser and bass player Simon Starr described the band’s sound as a mix of free jazz, big band and funk — in Yiddish — with a rogue element thrown in.

One musician even half-raps Yiddish poetry.

Starr said that most of the 24-piece line-up weren’t Jewish but they were learning some Yiddish to provide back-up vocals.

“YID! is incredibly eclectic on all fronts,” Starr said.

“It takes traditional Yiddish folk songs and reinterprets them as a big band.

Read the article by Bianca Carmona in the Caulfield Glen Eira Leader.