The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

“Everything Started from That”: Finding Connection Between Rock and Klezmer as Introduction to Jewish Music

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Michał Moniuszko, a musician and teacher, remembers his first impressions of klezmer music as a young Polish rock musician.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Michal Moniuszko.

This excerpt is in English.

Michal Moniuszko was born in Sejny, Poland in 1977.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"The Yeshiva? It Was A Shoe Factory”: Discovering Traces of Multicultural Poland through the Borderlands Project in Sejny

4 min 29 sec

“Now There are Just Traces Left”: Learning About a “Living Past” of Jewish Culture in Poland

1 min 48 sec

“We Got Into A Friendship”: After Sixty Years, A Cantor Returns to His Native Sejny, Poland

7 min 1 sec

“It Must Be Done”: The “Great Responsibility” of Educating Young People about Jewish and Multicultural Past of Sejny, Poland

3 min 32 sec

“Phantom” Limb: Presence of the Past in Sejny, Poland

3 min 23 sec

“First: Get to Know [it]”: Advice to Counter Poland’s “Antisemitism Without Jews”

1 min 26 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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