Welcome everyone, to the very first episode of Radiant Others: A Klezmer Music Podcast! My name is Dan Blacksberg and usually I’m playing trombone when a microphone is front of me instead of talking. Maybe some listeners will know me as a klezmer trombonist, maybe some of you know me through the avant garde jazz and other kinds of “out” music I play, and maybe you’ve just stumbled across this from somewhere on the internet. No matter you’ve made it here, welcome and thank you for joining me on this new journey!
Each Radiant Others podcast will feature a conversation between me and someone whose work has made them an important part of the klezmer world. Since this is the very first episode, I’d like to talk a little bit about why I’m making a podcast focusing on klezmer and Yiddish music. I’ve got lots of reasons I’m doing this, some of which are hard to articulate. Some ideas I think I can explain clearly are the fact that I feel like many of the people involved in this klezmer scene, those folks who were instrumental in the period of time most of us call the “Klezmer Revival” don’t have a strong enough platform today to tell their stories and share their ideas about music. I want to give them that chance here.
I also have felt for a number of years that due to a lot of complex reasons (we’ll talk about a few of them at the end of today’s conversation), there isn’t as much interaction between young people who are interested in this music and more experienced performers, let alone elders of the scene as there was when I was coming up. The time I spent listening and talking to the musicians in this world who I looked up to was completely integral to who I am today as a musician and a person. Even just listening to the stories of what being a professional in this music was like made a big impact on me when I was in my 20s and just beginning to find myself and my place in klezmer music. I hope listening to these conversations can vicariously provide you all with some of that same feeling I had back then.
Ok, a little logistics: most interview podcasts like this release new episodes once a week. Unfortunately due to schedule, geography (this scene is pretty spread out and I don’t live in New York where the greatest concentration is), and complete lack of a budget to make these, I know I can’t live up to a production schedule like that. My current plan is to offer these episodes up in mini-seasons or 3-4 episodes each, once every two weeks for the duration of the season. I plan on offering these seasons every couple months, so this first season will debut this month, and then my plan is to have a set of new episodes for you in October. That’s my current plan, and I expect to re-evaluate as I get deeper into this.
I think that’s enough about me. Let me introduce you to today’s guest!
Michael Winograd is one of the leading klezmer clarinetists of his generation, in New York where he lives and around the world. He’s also one of my closest friends and musical collaborators. I met Michael on my first day at New England Conservatory in late summer 2002. It took us a few years to get close, but since the end of college we’ve been playing music of all different kinds and been a sounding board for each other’s ideas since then. Michael has played on lots of projects of mine, and I’ve been a member of a couple of his bands, including the Bessarabian Hop band, Infection, and his current “Internationally Reknowned Klezmer Orchestra.”
For as long as I’ve known him, Michael has created his own place in the music. He composes compelling and catchy tunes, puts together bands with amazing musicians, and performs a lot. It’s what’s made him so important in our little international community of klezmer, and the wider Jewish music world. He’s produced several CDs for Yiddish singers, most notably the late Adrienne Cooper (z’l), arranged music for orchestra, and makes great and fun movie promos. His tireless work and amazing music have always and continue to be an inspiration for me. I also owe Winograd a lot for letting me crash at his apartment possibly hundreds of times since he moved back to New York after college.
I’m putting up this interview first because I’ve talked to Michael about the ideas that drove me to create this podcast more than anyone else (maybe because of all those late nights!). Even still, I learned a lot about him that I didn’t know when we talked. We cover a lot, from what it was like being a young klezmer fan in the 1990s to what we feel the scene looks like today, formative times at NEC, and lots more.
Like many others, I’m doing everything with this podcast on my own. Luckily, I get to build on the strong connections the music brings all us musicians in this klezmer scene to make what I think will be great interviews. In other aspects of production, like the recording and editing, I’m pretty new at this, so I hope you all can forgive any lower quality moments.
While I’m doing this on my own, I have had lots of help making this podcast a reality, and I’d like to thank all my friends who’ve encouraged me to make it, and everyone who has been excited to talk to me. I’d especially like to thank Philadelphia’s Feinstein Center of American Jewish History for their contribution to help me get this off the ground.
As this is a new podcast, I really need all your help in spreading the word. Please rate and review this in iTunes or wherever you listen to it, and please let people know about it. You can also send me any questions or feedback at dan@danblacksberg.com.
That’s enough from me. Thank you all for listening. Let’s hear from Michael Winograd.
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