It’s a bird, it’s a plane; it’s a clarinet.

By PEGGY ANN BLISS

Special to The STAR

What’s that plaintive sound?

A sigh, a wail, a shout?

No, it’s a clarinet, and it can imitate the human voice better than any instrument.

Mozart, for whom it was a favorite instrument, spotlighted it in his last work. His wind quintet is also revered by clarinetists.

Another tradition featuring the clarinet is klezmir, a soulful, celebratory creation of Ashkenazy Jews in Eastern Europe.

While this tradition has existed for thousands of years, it only entered the mainstream in the last half century.

Its sobbing, wailing, laughing and shouting culminates most Jewish weddings, bar mitzvahs, as any one who has danced the hora at a wedding can testify.