Over the years, world music has given us just about every fusion imaginable, and even as we speak someone is probably planning a salsa-crunk crossover or inventing gamelan-grime. But Brother Moses Smote the Water is something genuinely groundbreaking. You may have seen the Klezmatics’ appearance as Charlotte’s wedding band in Sex and the City, but away from such TV cameos the six-piece New York band have been in the vanguard of the revival of Jewish klezmer music for almost 20 years.

Just over a year ago, they embarked on a project to unite the “freedom songs” of both the Jewish and Christian traditions, bringing together Yiddish songs and the spirituals of the African-American gospel, many of which take their inspiration from the journey from slavery made by biblical Jews.

Recruiting renowned gospel singers Joshua Nelson and Kathryn Farmer, they’ve created a joyous dialogue between different cultures and musical styles that finds gospel voices singing traditional Passover songs, and Jewish clarinets gracing inspirational favourites such as Mahalia Jackson’s Walk in Jerusalem and Sam Cooke’s Mary Don’t You Weep. Recorded live, it’s not so much a world music fusion as a spiritual transformation, and the result is as soulful as it is uplifting.

Nigel Williamson

Explore Music

• CD Reviews

• Live Reviews

• Classical

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010