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.
My Best Teachers were Recordings: Discovering Klezmer and Finding My Sound
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Merlin Shepherd, klezmer musician and instructor, recalls his introduction to klezmer music off of a Naftule Brandwein recording.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Merlin Shepherd.
This excerpt is in English.
This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.
Other video highlights from this oral history
My Best Teachers were Recordings: Discovering Klezmer and Finding My Sound
1 minute 50 seconds
Playing Klezmer not "Kletzmer" in Germany
3 minutes 57 seconds
Jewish Boyhood in Rural Wales: My Grandfather's Story
1 minute 36 seconds
Becoming a Clarinetist
3 minutes 10 seconds
"There Was Always a Flavor, Without Being Dogmatic": Growing Up in a Secular Jewish Home
2 minutes 2 seconds
The British Klezmer Scene
3 minutes 5 seconds
"My Grandparents Would Speak in Fluent Yiddish When They Didn't Want Us to Understand"
2 minutes 11 seconds
"All Gigs Are the Same": Channeling Healing Energy Through My Music
2 minutes 7 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
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About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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