When I was hardly taller than knee level to the proverbial grasshopper, there was a dog-eared paperback lying around our house with a title that ran something like “You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Enjoy Jewish Humor.” It appears the same goes for klezmer music.

The Kolsimcha group is joyful sonorous proof of that – although, it must be said, not entirely. Clarinetist Michael Heitzler is “of the faith,” and flutist Ariel Zuckermann was born in Tel Aviv. Zuckermann also moonlights as conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Add to that the fact that the Swiss band’s longstanding bass player, Daniel Fricker, quit the troupe recently and will be replaced in Israel by Barak Mori, the lineup for the forthcoming Kolsimcha concert at the Tel Aviv Museum (July 6, 8:30 p.m.), and you admittedly end up with a predominantly Jewish ensemble.

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