Yale Strom is an American violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, photographer and playwright. Strom is a pioneer among klezmer (musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe) revivalists in conducting extensive field research in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans among the Jewish and Romani communities since 1981. Initially, his work focused primarily on the use and performance of klezmer music between these two groups. Gradually, his focus increased to examining all aspects of their culture, from post-World War II to the present. He was among the first of the klezmer revivalists to identify the connection between klezmer and lautare (Roma/Gypsy musicians) and explore that connection in his scholarly and artistic works.
In the more than three decades since his initial ethnographic trip, Strom has become one of the world's most productive and influential scholar-artists of klezmer culture and history.
Career
Music
Yale Strom's klezmer field research helped form the base for the repertoires of his klezmer band Hot Pstromi based in NYC and San Diego. Since Strom's first band began in 1981, he has been composing his own New Jewish music, which combines klezmer with Hasidic nigunim, Romani, jazz, classical, Balkan and Sephardic motifs. These compositions range from string quartets to a symphony, which premiered with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and his solo violin composition called "Bessarabia Suite" that was commissioned by Rachel Barton Pine. He composed original music for the Denver Center production of Tony Kushner's "The Dybbuk". He composed all the New Jewish music for the National Public Radio series "Fiddlers, Philosophers & Fools: Jewish Short Stories From the Old World to the New", hosted by Leonard Nimoy, as well as numerous film scores.
List of CD recordings: "Cholent With Huckleberry" (Rounder, 1985), "Eclectic Klezz" (Rounder/Global Village, 1987), "With A Little Horseradish on the Side" (Global Village, 1993 - featuring original Hot Pstromi lineup of Strom, Andy Statman, Mark Dresser, Ismail Butera and Seido Salifoski), "The Last Klezmer" (Global Village, 1994), "Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years" (Global Village, 1996), "Wandering Jew" (Global Village, 1997),"Tales Our Father Sang" (Global Village, 1998), "Garden of Yidn" (Naxos World, 2000) "Cafe Jew Zoo" (Naxos World, 2002), "Dveykes/Adhesion" (Global Village, 2005) "Absolutely Complete Klezmer" (Transcontinental Music, 2006), "Borsht with Bread, Brothers" (ARC Music UK, 2007), "Absolutely Klezmer, Vol. II" (Transcontinental, 2007), "The Devil's Brides: Music from The Witches of Lublin" (ARC Music UK, 2011, featuring narration by actress Miriam Margolyes). "City of the Future" (ARC Music), UK 2016 featuring Yiddish vocalists: Daniel Kahn, Jack "Yankl" Falk, Michael Alpert, Anthony Russell, Vira Lozinsky, Judy Bressler and Elizabeth Schwartz, "Yale Strom's Broken Consort: Shimmering Lights" (ARC Music), UK 2018 featuring: Sara Caswell, Amos Hoffman, David Wallace and Alex Greenbaum as guests with Hot Pstromi (Fred Benedetti, Jeff Pekarek, Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom) and "The Wolf and The Lamb: Live at the Shakh" (ARC UK, 2022) featuring Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz, Peter Stan, Aliakxandr Yasinski, Petr Dvorsky and Norbert Stachel.
Strom has performed with many well-known musicians including Andy Statman, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich, Mark O’Connor, Alicia Svigals, Salman Ahmad, Samir Chatterjee, Muzsikas, Kálmán Balogh, Damian Draghici, Marta Sebestyen, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Sara Caswell, Peter Sprague, Gilbert Castellanos, Peter Stan, Norber Stachel, Alison Brown, Gilbert Castellanos, Adam Del Monte, Theo Bikel and myriad others.
Strom has been hailed as "a commanding bandleader and composer" (Pulse! Magazine), "one of the best klezmer musicians in the country" (Houston Public News) and "an all-around musical visionary" (Seth Rogovoy). Dirty Linen sums it up most concisely: "Yale Strom is a Jewish roots trip unto himself". The New York Jewish Week writes:
"He's a gifted photographer and author, a talented documentary filmmaker and has his own klezmer band... Strom's multifaceted career is a wonder, and his work schedule is downright fiendish."
Books
Strom's research has also resulted in sixteen books[2] (including "The Last Jews of Eastern Europe" and "Uncertain Roads: Searching for the Gypsies". He was the first photographer since Roman Vishniac to publish photographs of Jews in the Eastern Bloc countries.[citation needed] His "The Book of Klezmer: The History, The Music, The Folklore", a 400-page history with original photos and sheet music gathered by Yale during his 60+ ethnographic trips to Central and Eastern Europe, was published by A Cappella Books in September, 2002; this was soon followed by the publication of the world's first "Music Minus One" Instructional Guide to Klezmer (Universal Edition, Vienna Austria, April 2004). Strom's most recent book, written in collaboration with his wife, Elizabeth Schwartz, is "A Wandering Feast: A Journey Through the Jewish Culture of Eastern Europe" (Jossey-Bass Publishers, January 2005). Strom's book "The Absolute Complete Klezmer Songbook" (2006, Transcontinental Music) comes with a CD as well called Absolutely Klezmer Vol I and contains 313 known and rare klezmer melodies, many of which were collected by Strom during his years of field research. His first children's book "The Wedding That Saved a Town", illustrated by Jenya Prosmitsky, was published by Kar-Ben Publishing in 2008 and won the San Diego Library Association's Best Illustrated Children's book award in 2009. His biography of klezmer clarinetist David Tarras, "Dave Tarras: The King of Klezmer" (Or-Tav Publications, 2010) is the first full biography of Tarras, authorized by the Tarras family and includes 28 Tarras melodies, many of which have never before been published or recorded, as well as rare family archival photos and biographical details. Strom's second children's illustrated book is called "Shloyml Boyml and His Lucky Dreydl," illustrated by Emil Fuer-Singer. It is a bilingual book in English and Yiddish published by Olniansky Tekst Farlag (2021). Another in the Shloyml Boyml series "Sholyml Boyml and His Purim Adventure" came out spring 2023.
Film
Strom has directed ten award-winning documentary films (At the Crossroads, The Last Klezmer, Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years, L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin![3] and Klezmer on Fish Street) and has composed music for others. He was the first documentary filmmaker in history to be given his own run at Lincoln Center's prestigious Walter Reade Theatre, where The Last Klezmer broke box office records; this record was only exceeded by Carpati's run there. Both films went on to strong theatrical runs both in the U.S. and abroad, and were featured on major Top Ten Lists (The Last Klezmer on the N.Y. Post's for 1994, and Carpati on the San Diego Union Tribune's for 1997). The Last Klezmer was short-listed for an Academy Award. Klezmer on Fish Street won the 2003 Palm Beach International Film Festival's Special Jury Selection award. His documentary A Man From Munkacs: The Gypsy Klezmer was produced by Duna Television (Budapest, Hungary). Two edits exist, the producer's cut to be shown exclusively in Hungary, and the director's cut for other countries. In 2007, Strom curated an event in New York City, A Great Day on Eldridge Street, a photo shoot (by photographer Leo Sorel) of over 100 of the world's leading klezmer and Yiddish artists (based on the iconic photos "A Great Day in Harlem"), a parade through the Lower East Side and concerts. Strom's short film, A Great Day on Eldridge Street, documents these events. Strom in 2011 directed "A letter to Wedgewood: The Life of Gabriella Auspitz Harstein" which examines Jewish life in pre-war Mukacevo, Czechoslovakia, the rivalry between the Khasidim and Zionists and how Gabriella was saved by Lord Wedgewood from the Holocaust. In 2018 Strom directed "American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs" which examines the life of socialist and labor/union organizer Eugene Debs. It won "Best Feature Documentary" in the 2017 Workers Unite Film Festival in NYC. Strom's most recent doc. film is "Recordially Yours, Lou Curtiss" (2023) that is about record collector folk festival dir. Lou Curtiss who mentored such musicians as: Tom Wauts, George Winston, Mojo Nixon, AJ Croce, Alison Brown, etc.
Photo exhibitions
Strom's solo photo exhibit, "The Rom of Ridgewood", about Gypsy communities in Queens, New York, was mounted at the Queens Museum of Art; he has had numerous solo exhibits (depicting Jewish and Rom life) throughout the U.S. and Europe (complete exhibition list upon request). His solo exhibit of portraits of klezmer musicians (Jewish and Roma) in Bessarabia, "Klezmorim", was exhibited in Romania and Hungary. This same exhibition just recently was at the Jewish Community Center in Houston. His photos are part of many collections including Beth Hatefusoth, The Skirball Museum, The Jewish Museum of NYC, The Frankfurt Jewish Museum and the Museum of Photographic Arts. The Anne Frank Center in NYC created an exhibit of his photos called "Fragments: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe 1981-2016." The exhibit has been seen in Kalamazoo, Prague Jewish Museum and Brno Jewish Museum.
Plays
Strom's original stage play, "…from man… to beast… to crawling thing…", was given a fully staged workshop in June 2001 by the Streisand Festival (La Jolla, California). His play, "The Education of Hershl Greenshpan" (formerly, "Verdigris") was workshopped by the San Diego Rep, North Coast Rep as well as in New York City, Connecticut and Los Angeles. Strom was featured in the May 31, 2004 issue of Time for this play, and the scholarship behind it. In collaboration with wife and partner Elizabeth Schwartz and author Ellen Kushner, Strom co-wrote the audio drama, "The Witches of Lublin" (2011), starring Tovah Feldshuh, and featuring Simon Jones, Barbara Rosenblat and Neil Gaiman, among others. He also composed the original music for the recording. His second radio/audio drama is "Debs in Canton" (2021) directed by Sue Zizza and written by Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom, with music by Strom. The drama stars: Phil Proctor, P. J. Ochlan, L. J. Ganser, Robert Fass, Anne Bobby, Doug Shapiro, Micah Gellert, Melinda Peterson and won Six Communicator Awards including best written drama.
Lectures and teaching
Strom has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Asia and Europe and taught at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU for 4 years, where he created the course "Artist-Ethnographer Expeditions". Strom was Artist-in-Residence in the Jewish Studies Program at San Diego State University, a position created for him to 2020. Strom was the first klezmer violinist in history to be invited to instruct master classes at both the American String Teachers Association and the Mark O'Connor fiddle camp. Currently Strom teaches in the Music Dept. at SDSU and leads Jewish history, cultural and music tours with Ayelet Tours to Europe and North Africa.
Related Research Articles
Klezmer is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these would have been played at weddings and other social functions. The musical genre incorporated elements of many other musical genres including Ottoman music, Baroque music, German and Slavic folk dances, and religious Jewish music. As the music arrived in the United States, it lost some of its traditional ritual elements and adopted elements of American big band and popular music. Among the European-born klezmers who popularized the genre in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s were Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein; they were followed by American-born musicians such as Max Epstein, Sid Beckerman and Ray Musiker.
Naftule Brandwein, or Naftuli Brandwine, was an Austrian-born Jewish American Klezmer musician, clarinetist, bandleader and recording artist active from the 1910s to the 1940s. Along with Dave Tarras, he is considered to be among the top klezmer musicians of the twentieth century, and has a continuing influence on musicians in the genre a century later. Along with Tarras and other contemporaries like Israel J. Hochman, Max Leibowitz and Harry Kandel, he also helped forge the new American klezmer sound of the early twentieth century, which gradually gravitated towards a sophisticated big-band sound.
Abe Schwartz was an American klezmer violinist, composer, Yiddish theater and ethnic recordings bandleader from the 1910s to the 1940s. In his various orchestras, he recorded many of the leading klezmer musicians of the early twentieth century, including Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras.
Alex Jacobowitz is a classically trained concert artist and street performer who plays the marimba and xylophone.
Klezmer-loshn is an extinct derivative of the Yiddish language. It was a kind of argot, or cant used by travelling Jewish musicians, known as klezmorim (klezmers), in Eastern Europe prior to the 20th century.
Dave Tarras was a Ukrainian-born American klezmer clarinetist and bandleader, who was instrumental in the Klezmer revival.
Joel Rubin is an American clarinetist, klezmer musician, ethnomusicologist, and scholar of Jewish music. Since becoming involved in the klezmer revival in the late 1970s, he has been researching, teaching and performing klezmer music and related genres. He has been a member of, or performed with, such groups as Brave Old World, the Joel Rubin Ensemble, and Veretski Pass.
Alicia Svigals is an American violinist and composer. A co-founder of the Grammy-winning band The Klezmatics, she is considered by many to be the world's foremost living klezmer fiddler.
Shloimke Beckerman also known as Samuel Beckerman, was a klezmer clarinetist and bandleader in New York City in the early twentieth century; he was a contemporary of Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein. He was the father of Sid Beckerman, also a klezmer bandleader.
Alexander Olshanetsky was an American composer, conductor, and violinist. He was a major figure within the Yiddish theatre scene in New York City from the mid-1920s until his death in 1946.
Yale Strom and Hot Pstromi is a U.S.-based klezmer ensemble that was started in 1982.
Elizabeth Schwartz is an American vocalist, concentrating on klezmer music and the Romanian Yiddish dialect. She primarily records with her husband Yale Strom and Hot Pstromi but has collaborated in performance and recordings with notable musicians from the jazz and folk music worlds, notably Muzsikas, Damian Draghici, Alicia Svigals, Salman Ahmad, Marta Sebestyen and others. The subject of Romanian filmmaker Radu Gabrea's documentary film, Searching for Schwartz (2007), she was also featured in his previous documentaries "Goldfadn's Legacy" and "Romania, Romania". She also recorded music for the soundtrack of L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin!, a documentary film directed by her husband and frequent collaborator Strom.
Sam Musiker (1916–1964) was an American clarinetist and saxophonist whose career spanned both jazz and klezmer music. He is best known as the musical director of the album Tanz which also featured his brother Ray Musiker and his father-in-law Dave Tarras.
Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell is an American singer and musician who performs in Yiddish. He is an African-American convert to Judaism.
Israel J. Hochman was a Russian-born Jewish American violinist, klezmer bandleader, music arranger, and recording artist in early Twentieth Century New York City. He recorded prolifically for Edison Records, Emerson Records, Okeh Records, and Brunswick Records during the period of 1916 to 1924. He was one of a handful of bandleaders such as Abe Schwartz, Joseph Frankel and Max Leibowitz whose recordings are considered to make up the golden age of American klezmer.
Joseph Cherniavsky was a Jewish American cellist, theatre and film composer, orchestra director, and recording artist. He wrote for the Yiddish theatre, made some of the earliest novelty recordings mixing American popular music, Jazz and klezmer in the mid-1920s, was also musical director at Universal Studios in 1928-1929, and had a long career in radio and musical theatre.
J. & J. Kammen Music Company, commonly known as the Kammen Brothers, was a sheet music publishing company operated in Brooklyn, New York by Jack and Joseph Kammen from the 1920s to the 1970s. The company published Jewish music as well as non-Jewish music. They owned the rights to some well-known songs such as Bei Mir Bistu Shein. Their Klezmer Fake books were by far the most popular of their time, offering arranged interpretations of Jewish wedding repertoire for non-specialist musicians.
Jacob "Jakie" Hoffman was a Russian-born American Klezmer and orchestral musician, recording artist, and Xylophone player. He played and recorded with Harry Kandel, Philadelphia klezmer bandleaders of the interwar era, and was the father of Klezmer percussionist Elaine Hoffman Watts and grandfather of Trumpet player Susan Watts.
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