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.

Merlin Shepherd's Oral History

Merlin Shepherd, Klezmer musician and instructor, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on August 19, 2014 at KlezKanada in the Laurentian Mountains, Quebec, Canada.

This interview was conducted in English.

Merlin Shepherd was born in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom in 1963.

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Video highlights from this oral history

The British Klezmer Scene

3 min 5 sec

"All Gigs Are the Same": Channeling Healing Energy Through My Music

2 min 7 sec

Jewish Boyhood in Rural Wales: My Grandfather's Story

1 min 36 sec

Becoming a Clarinetist

3 min 10 sec

"My Grandparents Would Speak in Fluent Yiddish When They Didn't Want Us to Understand"

2 min 11 sec

"There Was Always a Flavor, Without Being Dogmatic": Growing Up in a Secular Jewish Home

2 min 2 sec

My Best Teachers were Recordings: Discovering Klezmer and Finding My Sound

1 min 50 sec

Playing Klezmer not "Kletzmer" in Germany

3 min 57 sec

Artifacts related to this oral history

Merlin and Polina Shepherd CD - "A Blade of Grass"

More information about this oral history

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