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 klezmer, classical, Middle Eastern and Asian rhythms, jazz and avant garde, the Bay Area group's music brims 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 impressive -- the 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 three albums to date on John Zorn's Tzadik label, most recently last year's The The Golem, a recording of Daniel's dramatic score to Paul Wegener and Carl Boese's 1921 silent film masterpiece of the same name.