The 21st Klezmer Festival begins today (Monday) in Tzfat (Safed) in northern Israel. The three-day, free festival will encompass seven main open stages and hundreds of performers from Israel and abroad. Another three halls will be opened in the city to host closed performances of klezmer and other music.

A large contingent of police and Magen David Adom first response teams are assigned to Tzfat for the duration of the event.

Klezmer is a style of music developed primarily among the Jews of Eastern Europe over the course of several hundred years. The name "klezmer" comes from the Hebrew klei zemer, "musical instruments".