It’s time to head back to the earliest days of the so-called klezmer revival with today’s guests, saxophonist Lev Liberman and clarinettist David Julian Gray of The Klezmorim. Founded in Berkeley California in 1975, this band started playing the repertoire that so many of us know and love and sharing it first in the Bay Area, then soon all over the West Coast and beyond. By the time Klezkamp started, the Klezmorim had been performing, touring and recording relentlessly for over 10 years! The first of many beginnings of this music becoming what it is today.
Dan had talked with both Lev and David about being guests on the podcast, and was excited to be contacted by them last summer saying they were hanging together and making music for the first time in decades and would now be a good time to record an episode? And we did. This conversation spans so many years, stories, and music. David and Lev share so much about a life in this band that seems nearly inconceivable from the point of view of klezmer professionals today. It was also great to hear more about the West Coast history of our music, and The Klezmorim were right at the heart of it.
Music on this episode:
Radiant Others is produced by Dan Blacksberg and Beila Ungar. The podcast aims to be the internet’s central space for important conversations in Yiddish and Klezmer music. Please support our work on https://www.patreon.com/RadiantOthers, and tip us as https://tiptopjar.com/RadiantOthers
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