American Klezmer

Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Although it had declined in popularity by the middle of the twentieth century, this lively music is now enjoying recognition among music fans of all stripes. Today, klezmer flourishes in the United States and abroad in the world music and accompany Jewish celebrations. The outstanding essays collected in this volume investigate American klezmer: its roots, its evolution, and its spirited revitalization.

The contributors toAmerican Klezmer include every kind of authority on the subject--from academics to leading musicians--and they offer a wide range of perspectives on the musical, social, and cultural history of klezmer in American life. The first half of this volume concentrates on the early history of klezmer, using folkloric sources, records of early musicians unions, and interviews with the last of the immigrant musicians. The second part of the collection examines the klezmer "revival" that began in the 1970s. Several of these essays were written by the leaders of this movement, or draw on interviews with them, and give firsthand accounts of how klezmer is transmitted and how its practitioners maintain a balance between preservation and innovation.

Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Although it had declined in popularity by the middle of the twentieth century, this lively music is now enjoying recognition among music fans of all stripes. Today, klezmer flourishes in the United States and abroad in the world music and accompany Jewish celebrations. The outstanding essays collected in this volume investigate American klezmer: its roots, its evolution, and its spirited revitalization.

The contributors toAmerican Klezmer include every kind of authority on the subject--from academics to leading musicians--and they offer a wide range of perspectives on the musical, social, and cultural history of klezmer in American life. The first half of this volume concentrates on the early history of klezmer, using folkloric sources, records of early musicians unions, and interviews with the last of the immigrant musicians. The second part of the collection examines the klezmer "revival" that began in the 1970s. Several of these essays were written by the leaders of this movement, or draw on interviews with them, and give firsthand accounts of how klezmer is transmitted and how its practitioners maintain a balance between preservation and innovation.

Introduction, Mark Slobin

Part One: Roots
1. American Klezmer
A Brief History
Hankus Netsky
2. Klezmer-Loshn
The Language of Jewish Folk Musicians
Robert A. Rothstein
3. Di rusishe progresiv muzikal yunon no. 1 fun amerike
The First Klezmer Union in America
James B. Loeffler
4. The Klezmer in Jewish Philadelphia, 1915–70
Hankus Netsky
5. "All My Life a Musician"
Ben Bazyler: A European Klezmer in America
Michael Alpert
6. Bulgareasca/Bulgarish/Bulgar
The Transformation of a Klezmer Dance Genre
Walter Z. Feldman

Part Two: Offshoots
7. Sounds of Sensibility
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
8. Klezkamp and the Rise of Yiddish Cultural Literacy
Henry Sapoznik
9. Newish, Not Jewish
Reshaping Klezmer Musical Traditions
Marion Jacobson
10. An Insider’s View
How We Traveled from Obscurity to the Klezmer Establishment in Twenty Years
Frank London
11. Why We Do This Anyway
Klezmer as Youth Subculture
Alicia Svigals

Works Cited
Contributors
Index