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Klezmer Music is Both Close and Far

Christian Dawid - Berlin-based, world-renowned klezmer clarinet player - explains how Klezmer music seems both very close and comfortable to him because of his Central European German background, and yet also very different.

Pete Rushefsky's Journey to Klezmer

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).

Learning Yiddish to Go Deeper Into and Beyond Klezmer

Henri Oppenheim, klezmer musician based in Montreal, talks about the role of Yiddish culture in the contemporary klezmer music scene. He felt he had to investigate and learn Yiddish to better understand and appreciate the music.

Seeing the Light: Seth Rogovoy on Getting into Klezmer

Seth Rogovoy, culture critic, writer, and historian, describes The Klezmatics concert that turned him on to klezmer music.

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

Merlin Shepherd, klezmer musician and instructor, recalls his introduction to klezmer music off of a Naftule Brandwein recording.

"It's Not Hip To Be Authentically Jewish": Klezmer Trends and Fusion

Peter Sokolow, a full-time professional musician active in Klezmer revival, discusses his disappointment at what he perceives to be a lack of authenticity among the new wave of Klezmer music, citing the depth and intensity of the genre which has been...

"It Was More Like a Resuscitation": Lorin Sklamberg's Thoughts on Klezmer Revival

Lorin Sklamberg, lead singer for The Klezmatics and YIVO sound archivist, discusses his role in Klezmer revival and his sadness that the line of musical transmission from one generation to another was broken.

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

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

'It's Some Kind of Tikkun Olam (Healing of the World)': Resolving a Klezmer Controversy

Jeff Warschauer talks about Europeans' interest in klezmer music and playing in Krakow. He describes a Holocaust survivor's outrage that he would play klezmer music in a country where so many Jews were murdered.

Klezmer

Amanda Lundquist, student and oral history intern, talks about her love for Klezmer music.

The Intergenerational Connections of Klezmer

Musician Michael Winograd describes the way Klezmer music brings together people of different ages, and connects the generations.

Klezmer Did Not Exist In a Vacuum

Benjy Fox-Rosen discusses how Klezmer varied from region to to region and was influenced by the music of surrounding cultures.

From Math to Klezmer Music

Henri Oppenheim, klezmer musician based in Montreal, talks about he first got interested in Jewish music, and how moving from Paris to Montreal influenced his career.

You are Klezmer the moment you can carry just one simple tune

Assaf Talmudi explains that he likes folk music and especially Klezmer music because you can take part in it on many levels, which allows new musicians to participate.

A Klezmer Concert Featuring Itzhak Perlman

Moishe Rosenfeld - Founder of Golden Land Concerts & Connections, a New York City-based booking agency for Jewish performing arts - describes putting on a concert of great klezmer musicians that featured violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Klezmer Music Helped Me Discover the Creative Power of Yiddish

Anne (Khane) Eakin Moss, Yiddishist and Russian Literature Professor, explains how her love of klezmer music led her to see the importance of the Yiddish within Jewish culture.

Working From Place of Minority: Reflections on Queers in the Klezmer Revival

Helena Lipstadt, a poet and garden designer, reflects on the first days of the klezmer revival of the 1970s, and the intersection of Jewish and LGBTQ identities.

"I Like What's Happening in the Klezmer World": Reflections on the State of Jewish Music and KlezKanada

Cantor Jack "Jackie" Mendelson—New York cantor and recording artist— discusses his excitement about klezmer music today.

Christian Dawid

Christian Dawid, Berlin-based klezmer clarinet player, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on August 23, 2011 at KlezKanada in the Laurentian Mountains of Canada. Christian is a musician who grew up in Bremen, Germany. His mother was born in 1942 in...

2011-08-23