Festival of Light 2 blends timeless ballads with ambient electronics, and contemporary dance grooves with ancient cantorial hymns. It runs the gamut from the wry, witty, but curiously touching "Feast of Lights" by alternative music heroes They Might Be Giants, to the eerie, electronic netherworld of "Man L'kha Ha-yam Variations" by Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb. "We wanted to amplify what we did with the first volume," says producer Bob Duskis, "which was to mix vocals and instrumentals, traditional and original songs, and present a real variety of music for the holiday season."

Festival of Light 2 does present a broad spectrum of musical styles, but at either extreme you'll find a single musician. Trumpeter, composer, and one of the central figures in the revival of klezmer music in the past 15 years, Frank London has an unparalleled knowledge of the repertoire, and was, Duskis says, "a major contributor." The Frank London Big Band Featuring Bob Franceschini, for example, presents a spectacular big-band version of the old chestnut "Oh Hanukkah." At the other end, London explores the mystical side of the Jewish tradition with a deeply felt, electronically colored arrangement of one of the psalms. Somewhere in the middle you'll find London's group The Klezmatics, collaborating with the Israeli superstar Chava Alberstein on a new setting of an old Yiddish text.