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.

Pete Rushefsky's Journey to Klezmer

Watch now:

Pete Rushefsky, executive director of the Center for Traditional Music & Dance, explains how he ended up playing Klezmer on the tsimbl (cimbalom, a type of hammered dulcimer).

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Pete Rushefsky.

This excerpt is in English.

Pete Rushefsky was born in Rochester, NY in 1970.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Champion of the Yiddish Song

3 min 2 sec

The Aesthetics of Judaism and Jewish Music

2 min 41 sec

The Current Status of Klezmer and Yiddish Music

4 min 12 sec

Preserving Aesthetic Worlds Through Oral Transmission of Yiddish Song

2 min 39 sec

Becoming a Premier Tsimbl Player

6 min 54 sec

The Klezmer-Yiddish Family

1 min 21 sec

Making New Yiddish Song Resources Available: Projects of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance

3 min 19 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

Themes: