Amsterdam Klezmer Band (AKB) is a Dutch-Jewish ensemble founded in Amsterdam in 1996 by saxophonist Job Chajes, originally a group of street buskers playing Yiddish dance music. The band blends klezmer and Balkan traditions with jazz, Romani music, and hip-hop, and has built a strong international live reputation over three decades, performing at venues ranging from Paradiso and the Concertgebouw to the Sziget and Lowlands festivals.
The band released the album Diaspora on March 20, 2026 via Asphalt Tango Records - recorded in one take in the Singelkerk in Amsterdam.
Diaspora is the last album with co-founder and trumpeter Gijs Levelt, who was part of the band for almost 28 years.
In 2024, the album Bomba Pop was released, the most recent studio album before Diaspora.
On August 1, 2023, the band announced that accordionist Theo van Tol had died at the age of 66.
Amsterdam Klezmer Band plays klezmer and diaspora music at Amare.
The Amsterdam Klezmer Band performs traditional Yiddish and klezmer music from the diaspora in Noordwijk.
