Klezmer music intrigues a lot of people; it's steeped in Jewish tradition, yet capable of rivaling punk rock in pure, boisterous energy. In the old days, you wouldn't have wanted your daughter to marry an itinerant klezmer musician, but in 2001 you could do a whole lot worse.

We've already praised the Rough Guide series at length, but this volume is among the best I've heard. Concise but informative liner notes are embellished by an exhaustive CD-ROM data track, which reproduces the entire Klezmer chapter from the Rough Guide to World Music. Take ten minutes to read the CD booklet and you'll know enough to listen intelligently; you'll follow klezmer from its birth in eastern European Jewish settlements, where it was performed at weddings and celebrations by small local groups, and featured a hammer dulcimer and a violin. You'll learn how the rudimentary recording technology of the early twentieth century helped make the clarinet the "voice" of klezmer. And you'll discover how those recordings helped to preserve the klezmer sound through World War II, and spurred its unlikely revival in the 1970s.

Of course, it's the music that'll really get you, and the Rough Guide folks have done their usual fine job on that front. Mindful of history and context, they've included a few archival tracks from klezmer legends like Naftule Brandwein and Harry Kandel -- and for eighty year-old music, these hold up pretty well, though the recordings are predictably tinny. You'll also get a healthy sample of the highly incestuous contemporary klezmer scene, from traditional acts like Budowitz, Kroke and Di Naye Kapelye to such envelope-pushers as the Klezmatics, Naftule's Dream and Klezmokum. I particularly enjoyed the Arabic slant of the Klezmatics' "Fun Tashlikh"; the song takes its tune from Naftule Brandwein's "Fun TashlaCh", which follows immediately afterwards, neatly setting up a prime Music Appreciation opportunity. Likewise, Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars' irreverently joyous approach to "Tau Der Kretshme" ("Going to the Bar", a skewed take on the traditional "Going to the Wedding Canopy") is an oompah-driven delight, its ramshackle joy (and title) entirely suited to contemporary weddings.

I'm barely scratching the surface here, but I hope you'll heed my words: if you buy only one Rough Guide CD this year, make it the Rough Guide to Klezmer. Play it loud and hide the good china.