Kammen Brothers

Their Klezmer Fake books were by far the most popular of their time, offering arranged interpretations of Jewish wedding repertoire for non-specialist musicians.

[2][3][4] Jack and Joseph Kammen were twin brothers, born Yakov and Yosef Kamenetzky in Białystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (today located in Poland) on October 11, 1888.

[8][9][10] Their father worked as a musician in the United States; both Jack and Joseph as well as their younger brother Herman (Hyman) took it up as a career too.

Their Dance Folio volumes quickly became the most popular lead sheets for Jewish wedding music in the United States.

[3][16][2][17][4] They continued to produce new volumes of the series for decades, with at least fifteen folios printed in separate editions for different instruments (violin and mandolin, piano, cornet, B flat clarinet, etc.).

[1] However, their score collections continued to be reprinted and to circulate in photocopied versions, becoming an important source of tunes for the revival of Klezmer music in the 1970s and onwards.