Jewish Monkeys: „WTF?“. It’s the first question that springs to mind. But the Jewish Monkeys just shrug their shoulders and say “Jews can call themselves that.” Better avoid looking up Urban Dictionary then, which defines a Jew Monkey as “A gay Jewish man with a long nose who likes to bring young boys home to his place, then rob them after he kills them.” At which they quip, “But of course we also specialize in poisoning wells.” In other words, the name itself is indicative of their approach: confusion, madcap humor and wit to rival the Marx Brothers. Let’s not dwell on whether or not theirs is a specifically Jewish brand of humor. After all, isn’t it ultimately irrelevant what religious or ethnic perspective may be behind what they do?

Instead, let’s just stick to the facts: the Jewish Monkeys, like other underground bands (Asaf Avidan, The Apples and Boom Pam), come from the vibrant, eccentric Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv. At their core is the vocal trio of Ronni Boiko, Jossi Reich & Gael Zaidner. Ronni Boiko, who works as a veterinary surgeon, and Jossi Reich, a writer and entrepreneur, met and became firm friends in the 1970s when they were both members of the boys‘ choir at the Frankfurt Synagogue. Three decades later, while jamming in their new home port of Tel Aviv, they met psychologist Gael Zaidner. Inspired by his talent for song and comedy, they founded the band. Ran Bagno, an internationally renowned composer and arranger of ballet, theatre and film music, added a professional touch to the anarchic chaos of these three hyperactive late bloomers. Their first backing band was, aptly enough, Boom Pam – a cult line-up encapsulating the melting-pot atmosphere of Tel Aviv.

Their uniquely ecstatic mix of Mediterranean, Balkan and Greek sounds, sweetened with Jewish melodies and enriched with phat surf rock and wacky circus music was versatile enough to provide just the right backdrop for these three unconventional vocalists. In the course of the production process, more and more musicians passed through the ever-changing studios. At the end of a nine-year recording phase, we now have nine songs and one remix.

The band members are so completely attuned to one another that they have just completed a highly accoladed tour of Germany and Austria with aplomb. Perseverance and wackiness, it seems, pay. The accompanists are no less off-beat: alongside the afore-mentioned Ran Bagno on accordion, there is also building contractor Yoli Baum on bass, bearded drummer and dyed-in-the-wool hard-rocker Henry Vered, guitarist and DJ Haim Vitali Cohen who grew up in the desert city of Beersheba as the son of a religious family, and trombonist Arnon de Boutton, who has no idea why his forebears gave him such an aristocratic-sounding name.