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Best of Philly 2012 Wedding Band

West Philadelphia Orchestra’s Klezmer Band

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     WPO’s Balkan dance parties at the now-shuttered Tritone were legendary. Your wedding/bar mitzvah/birthday blowout will be, too, if you book their traditional brass klezmer band, a Jewish folk group that plays everything from Busta Rhymes to Neutral Milk Hotel. - Philadelphia Magazine

Here we are playing a Martha Stewart “Real Wedding”:

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Banded Together

     Five members of the West Philadelphia Orchestra played Eastern European and Balkan folk music. During the ceremony, they covered “Postcards from Italy” by Beirut and “On an Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel, in addition to their own original folk songs. After the ceremony, the band led a parade up to the barn for cocktail hour. – marthastewartweddings.com

     This one million-member Balkan folk music monster is the only band in Philadelphia that can make you dance till you drop using solely acoustic instruments. A horn section, percussion section, tuba, sax, traditional vocals – this is by far one of the most energetic acts in the city. Check them out, they host the Balkan Dance party at Underground Arts.   – Get Lucid

     First and foremost, thank you guys so much for making the trek out to South Jersey to visit our camp and entertain our campers and counselors.  As soon as the concert ended, there was a unanimous understanding that your show was the best we have seen all year.  All the campers are already chomping at the bit to have you guys back next year and I for one agree with them.  Everyone absolutely loved it.  So, from all of us here at the farm, thank you again.     -Wesley Bogan, Appel Farm Arts and Music Center.

     West Philadelphia Orchestra have come out to George School now on two occasions, and they have quickly become a school community-wide tradition.  WPO first came to one of our assemblies as messengers of Balkan music, joy, and good will; they next came to one of our live music events as dance-party starters and merchants of musical mayhem. Each time they came, WPO were joyful ambassadors of berserk brass-band beats and blasts, and they have left an indelible impression on hundreds of new young fans, many of whom proudly sport WPO T-shirts around campus. Being able to have WPO at our school was an immense pleasure and part of what makes my job so great!
     -Michael Lo Stracco, Teacher, George School
     WPO is the type of orchestra that could charm all ages – teenagers and upwardly mobile  professionals and Baby Boomers and senior citizens. This wide appeal happens, despite any cultural deficits on the part of the listeners, because WPO is just so darn cool.
Their music is fluid. It is nomadic, for it roams all the way to the West. WPO counts jazz, ska, reggae, and even a little punk rock among its influences. While its roots rest in  history, somehow WPO feels refreshing. WPO plays music we’ve heard somewhere, probably a wedding, but in a new way. Most of the members play several instruments, so
they switch it up. They are versatile. They are intriguing.
     – Robyn Meadows, Fine Lancaster Living
     The music has a magical quality, and I mean that in the darkest and most arcane sense of the word. They manage to produce originals that feel both modern and authentic. Raymond Scott has nothing on their inventiveness and verve.
        - Jose Fritz, Stranded in Stereo