JUTTA & THE HI-DUKES

World music and more since 19888

Bringing worlds of traditional music to international audiences of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities for fun, interactive, family entertainment.

It was back in 1980 that Terran Doehrer started the Balkan Rhythm Band (tm), a world music band that focused on creating “jazz” based on the incredible traditional music of the Balkan countries. It was the first band on the Chicagoland scene doing this and was thus one of (and perhaps) the first “world beat” or “world music” groups pretty much anywhere.

In 1982 Terran created the Ensemble M’chaiya (tm), the first Revival Klezmer band in Chicagoland, running it alongside the BRB.

In 1990, Terran morphed the BRB into Jutta & the Hi-Dukes by blending the repertoires of his first two bands. It became very clear that he needed an umbrella organization.

The decision to create Modal Music, Inc. has proven to be exactly the right thing to have done because the operation has grown to become five distinct bands.

As the Jutta & the Hi-Dukes, we began to present multi-ethnic concerts here in America as well as in Canada and Europe. (As of 2023: Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, and Romania.)

We developed a number of powerful educational programs. We have also presented programs for the Special Needs community since 1990 and have been awarded muliple grants to assist us in that.

In addition, we have a product line of CDs, hand-knit dolls, small instruments, and various other things “ethnic” that are and will continue to be interesting to our fans and clients.

Our roster reflects the variety of American immigration. We have upbeat Jewish Klezmer, exotic Greek Rembetika, sweet Scandinavian dance music, French Canadian songs, a hot Swing / Tin Pan Alley / Dixieland band and, of course, the Earwig Music Company recording artist, Jutta & the Hi-Dukes (tm) whose repertoire is a combination of all of the above and more.

Our growth is fueled by the quality of our products, both live performances and items we sell. Generally, over half of our business is with repeat clients! People hire our bands repeatedly because they know we provide them with flexible, high quality, family-friendly professional entertainment. And, of course, it helps that we present our music in as an acoustic manner as possible in any given performance situation. Add on our efforts to include the audience in the fun by getting them up and dancing and percussing along with us, and you have the Modal Music story: good music, good players, and responsive, friendly, interactive entertainment.