Davka's music has been called neo-Jewish-roots-fusion, the acoustic equivalent of a Chagall painting, Middle Eastern Ashkenazi jazz, and fiddler-on-too-much-Turkish-coffee, but they're perhaps best described by their own name, a Hebrew slang term meaning "contrary to expectation." Redefining world music with seamless compositions inspired by a mishmash of klezmer, classical, Middle Eastern and Asian rhythms, jazz and avant-garde, the Bay Area group's music is filled with passion, lyricism and virtuosic interplay. Ori Nir in Israel's Ha'Aretz put it this way: "Davka does with Jewish motives what composer Bela Bartok does with traditional Hungarian motives. The result is impressive­the group creates rich, colorful, and polished harmonies infused with inspiration." Davka includes Paul Hanson on bassoon, Daniel Hoffman on violin, Kevin Mummey on percussion, and Moses Sedler on cello. They have recorded two albums to date on John Zorn's Tzadik label, most recently last year's Lavy's Dream.