For centuries, Jewish weddings in Eastern Europe featured the unique folk art of the badkhn, (Jewish wedding master of ceremonies), whose improvised delivery was accompanied by musical interludes. Poorly documented and little studied, this folk tradition, part liturgical, part comedic, remains a crucial key to understanding Ashkenazi Jewish culture and music. Joshua Horowitz will play historical recordings and show various types of Badkhones, showing how the music for them formed the central building block for the klezmer musical system. This lecture will feature deep music listening and analysis, but is still accessible for non-musicians as well. Josh won't shy away from critical ethnomusicological and historical perspectives and will present a new system of classification and analysis of modes designed to be more comprehensive for teaching and learning klezmer music. Fun and educational at the same time...