A distinction must be made between klezmer and klesmer:

Klezmer is an instrumental festive music that was once played in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe to accompany weddings or joyful religious festivals, such as the Purim festival, the celebration of the Torah (Simhat Torah) or the inauguration of a synagogue.

The world-famous clarinettist Giora Feidmann once described klezmer as the musical prayer of Yiddish.

The Salzgitter wandering musicians, who were known almost all over the world in the 19th century for their light music, are regardedas Klesmer. They traveled through Europe, North and South America, Australia and Africa and played at royal courts and in ruling houses as well as in inns, on the street or at the campfires of gold miners in Australia and America.

The first Salzgitter musicians of the years 1790 to 1812 only toured their immediate homeland or north-western Germany. Trips to France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland or south-eastern Europe were the exception rather than the rule.

In 1813, the first band traveled to Russia, and many followed. Some bands played at the tsar's court and the courts of other princes. From 1816, the first bands moved to South America. North America was one of the most popular destinations early on, and many bands also traveled to Australia. Traveling musicians even went to China, Japan, India, Arabia and South Africa.

Due to the advent of "mechanical" music and the earning opportunities in the industry, the number of Klesmers had become insignificant by the First World War at the latest.

The music festival in the old town of the Salzgitter district of Salzgitter-Bad is a reversal of the earlier situation: Whereas in the 19th century the musicians from Salzgitter went out into the wide world, now artists from all over the world come here to play klesmer and world music, but also and especially klezmer on the open-air stage.