Belf's Romanian Orchestra

[1][3][4] This small klezmer ensemble, which performed under the leadership of a bandleader known only as V. Belf, was recorded on 78-rpm discs for the Warsaw-based Syrena Rekord company starting in 1911.

[1][5] As well, a number of their disc titles refer to places in Southwestern Ukraine, such as Lipovetskaya (Липоветская), Svirskaya (Свирская), and Khotinskaya (Хотинская) which are named after Lypovets, Skvyra, and Khotyn.

The period of recordings by this group began when the director of Sirena, Philip Lazarevich Tempel, was expanding the company aggressively in 1911 and attempting to enter "ethnic" markets.

[7] Despite the fact that Belf was not a celebrity klezmer like Pedutser or Stempenyu, the records were extremely successful, and the company claimed that thousands of discs were shipped south to markets in Ukraine and Bessarabia.

The richly ornamented style of the recordings and the interplay of the instruments in a smaller ensemble have influenced revival groups in recent decades.