Former math teacher who switched to music, he is the founder, saxophonist and leader of Klezmer Nova, which used to be the Orient Express Moving Shnorers.

Because Pierre Wekstein has a sacred musical background, and if he is today considered a reference of klezmer music, he came across by chance. Oh, there was a Jewish tradition in the family, but it was essentially culinary, with the cakes of the grandmother, which Pierre Wekstein later share, on the same stage, with his friends of Klezmer Nova. By adding, to make them pass, because they are “good but burly” three bottles of wine and one of vodka. It will be clear that for a handful of musicians, it is a good rhythm, but it would be unfortunate to put their success on the account of alcohol.

Still, after having animated some Jewish weddings and chained some music festivals, Pierre Wekstein is found in June 1995 in Avignon, on the proposal of Gabriel Garran, the legendary director of the Théâtre de la Commune in Aubervilliers. It was the time of the Orient Express Moving Shnorers and Wekstein found himself light years away from the music he played in 68 at the Conservatoire, since at the time he teased the flute and the violin – and in the meantime of jazz, he risked expulsion at any moment.

The rest of the story is known. Pierre Wekstein and his amazing Klezmer Nova (in which the pianist Olivier Hutman is famous) joined the Universal catalog in the early 2000s, with an album that will finally give the band’s current name, followed by amazing Delicatessen. Nine years later, the Klezmer returns with a sumptuous cake. It’s called L’Entre-Deux. And if the title suggests that Reunion was an inspiring land, it implicitly means that it will be followed by others.