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The ensemble comprises artists with a disparate range of expertise and interest drawn from the UK classical (violinist Meg Hamilton and clarinet player Susi Evans) and jazz (Robin Harris on trombone) spheres, plus the far flung corners of the Balkan/Jewish roots diaspora (the rest of the eight-piece hail from the USA, Europe and even Zambia).

If that sounds like it might make for a disorderly sound, then rest assured these musicians have honed a spirit and respect for the music over many performances, while simultaneously maintaining the spark required for this at turns playful, emotional and spirited form of music.

‘Mahmutköy Karilamasi’ — inspired by a recording by Turkish clarinet star Selim Sesler — opens with a beautiful mournful trade-off between mandolin and clarinet on a slow Ottoman dance, before bursting into a delightful mid-tempo Yiddish jaunt, Evans’ clarinet snaking between the rest of the ensemble’s rhythmic interplay. In contrast, the Ukrainian folk tune ‘Dem Rebns Nign’ sees Hamilton’s violin playing at its emotive, intricate best, scraping along on a wheezy bed of accordion bursts from Jim Markovitch. And Greek music also gets a look-in, via the exquisitely-rendered Mediterranean melodies on mandolin and clarinet on ‘Amarantos’.

Romanian, Syrian and Bulgarian instrumental tunes are also covered, and there’s a delightfully light-hearted original composition to round off proceedings — the jaunty, music-hall ‘Wedding Song’ is an anarchic tale of the gig of every wedding band’s worst nightmares.

So much more than just another klezmer album, then, Sandanki’s Chicken is an album of pan-European roots music — eminently danceable in most places (the band have performed at many Jewish weddings) but always possessing a considered, soulful approach to the music and its traditions, all of which serves well to demonstrate what a great evening is had at their concerts.