Klezmer music from Colorado meets the folklore of the Transylvanian Plain.

→ 𝐙𝐨𝐞̈ 𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚 was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She played Suzuki violin while her dad led songs at their local synagogue and played klezmer music on the weekends.

After college, Aqua lived in Brooklyn for a decade amidst a generous and progressive Jewish community that stoked her love of old klezmer recordings and her fascination with Eastern European music. She later became an active figure in New York’s klezmer revival scene, co-founding the bands Tsibele and Farnakht.

From 2021 to 2023, Aqua lived in Romania on a Fulbright grant, conducting ethnographic research on Transylvanian folk music. She travelled extensively through regions such as Mezőség, Szék, and Maramureș, learning from local musicians and documenting their unique fiddle styles. She also performed in historic

synagogues in Satu Mare and Cluj, collaborating with artists from Romania’s folk scene. Her forthcoming live album, In a Sea of Stars (Summer 2025), weaves together klezmer and Transylvanian traditions, reviving melodies and rhythms that once resonated across intercultural communities of the region.

She says that "𝑰𝒏 𝒂 150 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓-𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒂, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕-𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆-𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒃.” - (𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑𝒔://𝒘𝒘𝒘.𝒛𝒐𝒆𝒂𝒒𝒖𝒂.𝒄𝒐𝒎/)

→ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐏𝐚̆𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐚 comes from the village Pălatca (hun.: Magyarpalatka). It is located in the central plains of Transylvania (Mezőség) (Romania), 30km close to Cluj Napoca (Kolozsvár/Klausenburg). The majority of the population consists of Romanians, followed by Hungarians and Roma.

This region survived the influences of Transylvanian Renaissance and Baroque. It brought forth a Transylvanian dance and music style. The subsequent “new style” of Hungary (and other foreign bourgeois influences) reached the region very late, and was taken only after strong selection.

The interaction of the Hungarians and the Romanians, but also of Saxony and the Roma originated here the richest treasures of Transylvanian dances and music. The mutual exchange of dances and tunes merged the limits of the characteristics of the Hungarian and Romanian, so there is a true “bilingualism” of the dances and in the music.

𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠:
𝑍𝑜𝑒̈ 𝐴𝑞𝑢𝑎 - 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛
𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑏𝑎 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛 - 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛
𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑏𝑎 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑟. - 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛
𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑏𝑎 𝐼𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 - 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑎
𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑐 𝑀𝑖ℎ𝑎𝑖 (𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠) - 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑎
𝑆𝑧𝑎𝑏𝑜́ 𝑆𝑧𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑑 - 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑠