Yale Strom Klezmer Artist

The Absolutely Complete Klezmer Songbook
Edited by Yale Strom (Transcontinental Music Publications)
Now avilable here!

Yale Strom's brain should be designated a site of international cultural significance. Well, his brain and his violin-playing fingers, and possibly some other parts as well. Working in many media, Strom has worked to learn, preserve, and share Jewish and Rom music and culture from Eastern Europe. His latest works:

The CD Borsht with Bread, Brothers includes songs from Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Germany, Russia, Belarus, and Moldava. Picture yourself in a tavern full of sweaty men dancing to the vigorous "Svalava Kozatshok." Or get rebellious in an old-school sort or way to the anti-Czarist "Vemen Veln Mir Dinen, Brider (Whom Shall We Serve, Brothers)," with its brooding mood and seriously soulful vocals by Elizabeth Schwartz: "Whom shall we serve, brothers? / It's not good to serve the Russian Czar / Because he bathes in our blood." Well, no...that's not good. While the music stands on its own, the rich song notes (and lyrics and translations for those songs with words) give historic and cultural context -- in four languages!

The Absolutely Complete Klezmer Songbook gives Strom a chance to show that he's not just a musician, but also a collector of songs and stories and information and music. Essentially an enhanced fake book, the volume includes a 20-odd page history of Jewish music from Biblical times to present day; 400 pages of sheet music (313 songs!) organized by song type and occasion; a glossary of (mostly Yiddish) terms; and a 36-track CD of klezmer tunes performed by Strom and Hot Pstromi.

Even non-musicians will find fascinating tidbits in the history section, from the role of Felix Mendelssohn's grandfather in suppressing Yiddish language and music to the role the khasidim played in reinvigorating Jewish music and dance, even the occasional tradition of hurling snowballs at Jewish newlyweds. If you're a musician devoted to or just curious about klezmer music, The Absolutely Complete Klezmer Songbook is a rich and unparalleled resource.

Strom & Hot Pstromi: Borsht with Bread, Brothers (ARC)
Now avilable here!

Much of the music now associated with the Klezmer revival is based on source recordings made by first generation immigrant musicians who arrived in the Americas in the early decades of the 20th Century and became recording and performing artists. Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras are probably the best known examples of those early Klezmer stars. However, violinist Yale Strom and his band Hot Pstromi have taken a different direction on this intense and riveting CD, playing tunes and songs Strom has collected from the largely unknown Jewish and Roma musicians he’s encountered on collecting trips to Eastern Europe since 1981. Jewish and Roma musicians often interacted with each other in the pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe of the 19th and 20th centuries, exchanging tunes, playing in each other’s bands, etc. and both Jewish and Roma traditions run through much of this CD. So, too, do the various regional musical styles from the different areas of Eastern Europe that these selections came from. And, of course, another factor at play here is the awesome virtuosity and versatility of the various musicians in Hot Pstromi: guitarist Fred Benedetti; David Licht, a former Klezmatic, on percussion; bassists Jeff Pekarek and Sprocket Royer; reed players Tripp Sprague and Norbert Stachel; accordionist Peter Stan; and vocalist Elizabeth Schwartz.

Picking favourite tracks from the dozen here is almost impossible, but I’ll call special attention to “Stole A Kakos Mar,” a Hasidic song from Hungary sung in Hungarian and Hebrew, with a vocal performance from Schwartz and perfect accompaniment from the band, that almost reminds me of Edith Piaf at her best. Another that must be singled out is “Vemen Veln Mir Dinen, Brider,” a Yiddish protest song that laments being forced to serve in the czar’s army.