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Connecting with Jewish folk music

musician Assaf Talmudi explains that he started playing Klezmer music because it felt unauthentic to play folk music from other cultures.

My Father's Piano

Peter Sokolow, a full-time professional musician active in Klezmer revival, talks about his beloved Steinway piano, left to him by his father.

Michael Winograd

Michael Winograd, lauded Brooklyn-based klezmer clarinet player, was interviewed (remotely) by Nina Pick on March 24th, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York.

2022-03-24

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

Merlin Shepherd, klezmer musician and instructor, recalls an incident in which his grandfather started yelling at another driver in Yiddish in order to keep him from understanding.

"Can you teach me how to sound more Jewish?"

Christian Dawid - Berlin-based, world-renowned klezmer clarinet player - explains that people ask him, a non-Jew, to help them sound "more Jewish."

What’s a Club Date?: Peter Sokolow Explains

Peter Sokolow, a full-time professional musician active in Klezmer revival, remembers his first professional gigs playing in Country Clubs for weddings and other simkhes.

The Plum Tree: Old Music, New Lyrics

Elizabeth Schwartz, singer, introduces and performs The Plum Tree, a traditional klezmer melody she composed English lyrics for in honor of historian Itzik Schwartz and his wife Tzila.

Activism and Jewish Music for Francophones

Henri Oppenheim, klezmer musician based in Montreal, discusses why he identifies as an activist. He reflects on his work with Jewish music, and the process of making it for Francophone listeners.

The Roughness of Yiddish

Christian Dawid - Berlin-based, world-renowned klezmer clarinet player - explains that he likes Yiddish for its "roughness" and the ways in which it can be both beautiful and obscene.

Reflecting on a Secular Jewish Upbringing

Peter Sokolow, a full-time professional musician active in Klezmer revival, talks about his secular upbringing in Crown Heights and his mother's unique political philosophy.

He Spoke My Parents' Dialect

Israel Bartal - Professor of Jewish History at Hebrew University - shares the story of getting a letter from a klezmer musician from Galicia who spoke his parents' dialect.

Yiddish as a Post-Vernacular Language

Frank London - founding member of the Klezmatics and Frank London's All-Star Klezmer Brass Ensemble - discusses Yiddish as a "post-vernacular" living language, based on Jeffrey Shandler's writings.

Tine Kindermann

Tine Kindermann - German artist and wife of prominent klezmer musician Frank London - was interviewed by Pauline Katz on December 30, 2010 at KlezKamp 2010 in the Catskill Mountains of New York State.

2010-12-30

"Tradition is what we create right now"

Christian Dawid - Berlin-based, world-renowned klezmer clarinet player - discusses the idea of "tradition" and explains that tradition is created everyday and comes from actively thinking about the musical process.

Working with Dave Tarras

Peter Sokolow, a full-time professional musician active in Klezmer revival, talks about some of the famous Jewish musicians he played with, including Dave Tarras and the Epstein Brothers.

Interest in Jewish Culture

Sarah Bunin Benor - professor of Jewish studies and linguistics - describes the evolution of her interest in Yiddish beginning with her teenage interest in klezmer and continuing at Columbia University and the Yiddish Book Center.

Opera is Gesamtkunstwerk

Frank London - founding member of the Klezmatics and Frank London's All-Star Klezmer Brass Ensemble - explains why he decided to write a Yiddish opera and argues that opera is well suited for Yiddish.

Finding a balance

Jeff Warschauer advises the younger generation of klezmer musicians and Yiddish enthusiasts to go "broadly and deeply" into the past. He suggests that creative artists learn the rudiments of their discipline while remaining true to themselves.

On Feeling Different and Developing A Jewish Identity

Polina Markovna Shepherd, Yiddish performer, composer, and choir leader, describes feeling different and marginalized and discusses the development of her Jewish identity at the age of 16, including her introduction to the klezmer music scene in Kaza...