The Music and History of Klezmer

The word “klezmer” comes from Hebrew “kli zemer” which means “instrument of the singing”. Over time it came to signify the musicians themselves, and in current usage it also refers to the musical genre of East European Jewish dance music. As the Jewish people moved throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the music was influenced by local cultures. The mass immigration of Jews to the United States coincided with the development of commercial recording technology, and recordings made between 1912 and 1940 have been the major source for the current revival of klezmer music.

This lecture will look at the development of klezmer from medieval times through the 20th century, with the inclusion of photos, video and musical examples (some from Yale Strom himself) as a way of illustration. Many of the locations that will be discussed have been personally visited by Strom, who has done ethnographic research there.

Yale Strom is a professor in the Music Dept. at San Diego State University. Yale is one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Roma music and history. He has conducted extensive ethnographic research throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans since 1981.

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