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.
Mark Slobin's Oral History
Mark Slobin, ethnomusicologist, was interviewed by Hankus Netsky on May 27th, 2016, in New York City.
This interview was conducted in English.
Video highlights from this oral history

A Very Particular Kind of Background that People Don’t Have Anymore: Growing Up in a Jewish Enclave in Detroit
2 minutes 11 seconds
An Ethnomusicologist's Favorite Jewish Music
1 minute 25 seconds
Jewish Use of Classical Music to Perform Civic and Cultural Identity
2 minutes 53 seconds
“Sung Poetics”: Mark Slobin on Why the World Needs to Hear Yiddish Song
2 minutes 49 seconds
Rare Anecdotes of Everyday Yiddish Singers
2 minutes 30 seconds
The Place of Jewish Music in Jewish Studies
3 minutes 14 seconds
Russian Songs From My Childhood
3 minutes 58 secondsMore information about this oral history
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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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