With echoes from the shtetls of eastern Europe, klezmer's strains both unite and inspire

BEMUSED ferry passengers arriving at Iona on Saturday were greeted not by the strains of Celtic plainchant one might associate with Saint Columba's isle, but by an exuberant swirl of klezmer music.

It came courtesy of the eight-strong London-based She'koyokh Klezmer Ensemble, playing on the beach prior to their concert in the island's community hall, as part of an extensive Scottish tour under the auspices of the Scottish Arts Council's Tune-Up scheme. The tour takes in Skye (tonight at Sabhal Mor Ostaig), Eigg, Alness, Inverness, and elsewhere, including three Edinburgh venues, St Mark's Artspace, the Roxy Art House and Forrest Caf, on 24, 25 and 26 May.

Performing al fresco is nothing new to the band, although it's more usually to be found busking on London streets or at European festivals than on Hebridean beaches. "We busk every week – weather permitting – around London," says Meg Hamilton, the group's violinist, "and we had a real party going on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh last week."

And when it comes to instant parties, klezmer, which originated in the Jewish communities of eastern Europe, can be pretty irresistible, with its potent blend of the wild and the melancholy. She'koyokh means, literally, "may you have strength".

She'koyokh was established almost a decade ago, with the help of a Millennium Award, having emerged from the annual KlezFest held by the Jewish Music Institute in London, where Hamilton first started jamming with the band's clarinettist, Susi Evans. It established its credentials with a debut concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall where it premiered a "klezmer concerto" by the Jewish composer Rohan Kriwaczek, and has gone on to perform at such geographically and culturally diverse locations as Krakow, Munich and Glastonbury.

While Hamilton and Evans both come from classical music backgrounds, the group's other members sport a variety of experience in other music genres and in theatre. Mandolinist Ben Samuels, originally from San Francisco, is in fact the only Jewish member of a group, whose leanings are eclectic to the point of ecumenicism – their singer, Cigdem Aslan, is Turkish – with a repertoire taking in Turkish, Kurdish, Greek, Ladino (the Judaeo-Spanish language of the Sephardic Jews) and other Balkan material. Other members include percussionist Frazer Watson, a Scots Borderer. "The wonderful thing about it," says Hamilton, "is that it shows how music can bring people from such different backgrounds together."

Their background may be motley, but their music is decidedly kosher, having won awards at Jewish musical festivals. "We play very much in the old-school style, from pre-war eastern Europe, which we learn by listening to the few recordings there are of it, and also by travelling to eastern Europe and hearing what survives. And there's a wonderful klezmer community throughout the UK. Jewish or not, it's not a problem as long as you appreciate the music."

As demonstrated by their second album, last year's Buskers' Ballroom, the band's repertoire ranges through eastern European klezmer and Sephardic tunes to Hot Club-style swing and Middle Eastern material, while in live performance, irreverent choruses of What Will We do With the Drunken Rabbi? are not unknown.

All of the group members pursue busy extra-curricular schedules. Hamilton, for instance, plays viola in the Kosmos Ensemble, a fusion string trio which has played with Nitin Sawhney and the Bombay Dub Orchestra. She also plays in the contemporary flamenco dance company La Tipica, has provided music for the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and is currently studying Arabic music with the Lebanese singer Abdul Salam Khier.

"She'koyokh is a big part of our lives," she says, "but we're also freelance musicians, so we all bring everything we know back to the band."

• For full tour details, visit www.shekoyokh.co.uk or www.tuneup.org.uk/tours/shekoyokh/