About Us

Di Bayke (“bye-keh” meaning "Tall tale" in Yiddish) is a Minneapolis-based klezmer band that performs and teaches the traditional dance music of Eastern European Jews. What started as a backyard jam in the Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis in 2022 blossomed into a full ensemble of teaching artists, instrumentalists, vocalists, and dance leaders devoted to cultural authenticity through direct study with master artists and culture bearers such as Ethel Raim, Michael Alpert, Jake Shulman-Ment, Christina Crowder, and Lisa Gutkin.

We believe in the power of community-led spaces. In addition to simkhes, parties, and community events, Di Bayke teaches Yiddish dance, song, and instrumental music at the Longfellow Village Band klezmer learning jam and performs as the house band for Klezmer on Ice, the annual Twin Cities klezmer festival, with venues ranging from the ice of Lake Harriet to an outdoor sauna village. Di Bayke brings experiences in Yiddish and Klezmer music to new audiences around the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota and hope every engagement is a little “oasis in diaspora.”