News from the Music Industry

This first appeared to rapturous applause in 2000, and from this second edition (in paper) it’s easy to see why. It’s nothing less than a definitive history of Yiddish klezmer music, which also encompasses Yiddish song and radio, as well as a personal memoir, all seamlessly woven into a single whole. The bulk of the book deals with klezmer in America, where it really came of age and found a true voice in heroes like Dave Tarras, but the section on the Old World of European klezmer is excellent, beautifully researched in so far as research is even possible. Sapoznik covers all facets of Yiddish musical life, and this is almost as valuable as an anthropological portrait as a loving history. Sapoznik himself came to klezmer from old-time music, and was one of the architect’s of klezmer’s revival in the ’70s as both musician and scholar, putting him in a unique position to write this extremely readable book. It’s readily accessible to those with no knowledge of the music, and the way he uses Yiddish terms throughout draws the reader into the bygone world. Nor is it hagiography–he shows the great figures of the music very clearly and in unvarnished fashion, with feet resolutely made of clay, for all their talents. Add on a CD of Yiddish music recordings from 1912-1997, and you have an invaluable guide to klezmer.