Photo By Alfonso Julián Camacho
FIDDLER ON THE STAGE—Yale Strom, a professional ethnographer and passionate music historian, has made it his mission to track down and preserve traditional Jewish melodies and songs from Eastern Europe. Holocaust survivors, he said, have been a rich source of musical heritage.
By Alfonso Julián Camacho
Musician Yale Strom enjoys playing oldies but goodies.
Like 4,000 years old.
A charismatic singer and violinist, Strom put on an uplifting concert of Jewish music at the PAC featuring his transcendent musicianship and charming personality. Much of the music had roots in the 19th and 20th centuries, though some may have its genesis in the times of David and Solomon.
Strom, a second generation American whose parents fled Eastern Europe, is working to resuscitate Jewish music largely lost to the Holocaust. The Shoah took the lives of nearly 6 million Jews and an estimated 75 percent of Europe’s talented Jewish musicians.
Trained as an ethnographer, Strom has music in his blood and bloodline. Raised in Detroit and San Diego, his family practiced Jewish traditions and holidays. His father’s Hasidic Judaism influenced Strom’s musical upbringing.
“Singing is part of how we express ourselves,” he said.
Young Strom had planned to attend law school until the evening he stumbled upon a bar where 12 musicians played Jewish instrumental folk music typically heard at weddings and parties. Smitten, he approached the band about joining but was turned down.
“If you can’t beat them, form your own band!” he said.
His passion ignited, he was motivated to learn and improve. He bought a one-way ticket to Eastern Europe to search for his musical heritage, combing archives and seeking out older Jewish musicians. Then he went 75 more times. His exhaustive research helped him create a vast reservoir of traditional Jewish music.
“It opened my eyes up to this world that still existed in Eastern Europe,” he said. “When I came home I formed a band with (great musicians) that I still play with today.”
Holocaust survivors were his best sources for traditional Jewish songs. In the town of Košice, Slovenia he met Eli, the caretaker of the synagogue. As they chatted, Strom found a violin on top of a cabinet. He asked Eli if he knew any songs he could share. Eli recounted that his father taught him the musical prayers and songs he sang at the synagogue, and his mother sang folk music. Eli said his mother often lost herself in the music to the point of burning the ironing and dinner. The last time Eli saw his parents, he said, he turned left and they turned right to their death at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
Strom said he and Eli cried, then Strom sang a lighthearted folk song about potatoes he had learned from his grandmother. Eli laughed along with Strom because he knew the song.
“That is a story that will stay in my memory forever,” he said.
Jewish culture is at least 4,000 years old and its music pre-dates the Old Testament.
“Klezmer is a Hebrew word,” Strom said. “Kle means utensil or tool, and zmer means music. This music generally comes from Eastern Europe (mostly) east of the Danube.”
In a polyglot of languages, music provided common ground in Europe, Strom said.
“The language of the people there is Jewish instrumental party music,” he said. “It was generally happy music.”
Western musicians struggle with old Jewish music, he said, which predates the European tonal scale used by most musicians today.
“You can’t play this music on the piano,” he said. “We play the gray notes (in between the piano keys). I am playing these quarter tones, notes that are not typical in the Western Scale. This music is older than the Abrahamic religions. It was music that people sang (and) prayed to. It was passed on generation to generation.”
Strom and Joe McNalley opened with a “Doyne” that flowed into a melody titled “Svailava,” Strom’s violin transformed the room with incandescence reminiscent of Roma fire circles and festive gatherings. With McNalley keeping the rhythm beat in contrabass, Strom’s music hung in the air as if suspended by spirit voices of Klezmorim past. Playing songs of old sprinkled with his own compositions, Strom took the audience on a journey through pre-war Eastern Europe. When he sang in Yiddish his voice reverberated with the warbling style of a troubadour crooning tales of nights swapping wine for whiskey.
In “Kalarasher,” a piece from Moldova, Strom’s chiseling violin danced with McNalley’s contrabass to invoke happy feet thumping on a party floor.
“The only reason Yale sounds good is because I am playing,” McNalley said with a purposeful smirk.
The old friends burst into laughter. Even after 30 years of playing together their comfortable camaraderie brought a festive spirit to their music.
Strom sang the classic “In Odessa” in Yiddish, caressing a melody about an evening spent with a lady of the night. Its notes swayed like the alluring hips of a beautiful woman drifting along cobblestone streets. Strom’s voice captured the tantalizing atmosphere of the piece. Fluency in Yiddish was not required to feel the spirit of the song.
Showmanship and skill created magic as Strom coaxed his violin to sing out in what seemed like thin air during “Kolomeveke,” a song from Ukraine.
“(It is) one long horse tail hair,” he said. “Jews would do it as a trick.”
Strom took a moment to reflect on the war in Ukraine.
“Music, right?” he said. “That is what we need, more music! Miles Davis and Charlie Parker played Klezmer. If Klezmer is good enough for them, it is good enough for you.”
Corina Morga, a student from Southwestern College, agreed.
“I liked how (this music) is different from what we are used to,” she said. “It’s interesting learning about music from different cultures. I enjoyed it. I was really impressed by the playing and history.”
Angel Alvarez said she also enjoyed the performance.
“It was such a unique experience (learning) about culture and the history behind the music,” she said. “I think that was one of the most engaging parts of the concert.”
Strom said he is working on a musical titled “Blue Cows, Green Jews, Red Goats: The Chagalls.” It is the story of Marc Chagall and his famous artistic family pondering a move as war closes in. His band just released an album titled “The Wolf and The Lamb.” It is available on the Hot Pastrami label.
On June 27 Strom will play a free concert at the Universal Unitarian Church in Hillcrest.
