By Stanley Tiger
SAN DIEGO–The concert started more or less promptly at 8:00 pm. Titled in the program flier, “An Evening of Klezmer Music with Yale Strom and Hot Pstromi,” it was a well attended fundraiser for Tifereth Israel Synagogue, opening first with Havdalah prayers, lead by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal with audience participation.
Immediately following, the hall burst into the sounds of the Hot Pstromi ensemble – five distinguished instrumentalists and one vocalist, Elizabeth Schwartz, Strom’s wife/partner. Blending a program of lesser known to very well known pieces, they played everything with all the finesse and confidence of a well seasoned ensemble – with sounds as delicious as the well seasoned pastrami enjoyed in the finest of New York delis.
Strom is among the leading and best known of klezmers. With 12 books and 13 CD’s, he has performed across the US, Europe, Israel and Asia – with 2 particularly notable accomplishments for any musician – participating in a concert at the United Nations General Assembly and performing at the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in Times Square. He also organized the inaugural concerts to commemorate the one and a half dozen million dollar renovation of the Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York – the first Ashkenazi synagogue in the U.S.
So, when we hear the sounds of Hot Pstromi – be it in San Diego – or anywhere – we are exposed to the world – actually to many worlds – in both in place and time.
Among the first performed selections were a few songs and compositions from an influential klezmer clarinetist, Dave Tarras – a veteran musician of the “Borscht Belt” and major radio network broadcasts – also the subject of a recent book by Strom. The music of Tarras is characterized by precise execution and the mastery of clarinet techniques. Tarras is also known to have played with Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, where they exchanged their improvisational ideas.
Representing the music of Tarras was the very capable clarinetist, Robert Zelickman, a professor of music at UCSD (and like Strom, a Detroit native). Zelickman explained that it was not his intention to reproduce the style of Tarras – because that would be a “left brained’ function”, but rather, to express his personal understanding of the music – the “right brained” function that he teaches his students to develop.
Among the delights of the evening were Zelickman’s clarinet solos, which included improvisations on the lesser known bass clarinet, an instrument reminiscent of the sound of a bassoon, but offering the vocal versatility and deep voiced laughter of a mythical well-fed Romanian wine merchant.
And speaking of Romania…Elizabeth Schwartz shared with the audience her Romanian roots. Born in Los Angeles, she explained that her singing style was inspired by Maria Tanase, who Schwartz describes as “a Romanian treasure and superb purveyor of Romanian folk music”.
When the group struck up the popular standard, “Romania, Romania”, you could feel the delight of the audience, spurred on by the slapping sounds and rapid rhythmic syllables so excellently performed by Schwartz. (Believe me, she could give any rapper a run for his bling.)
For many of the songs, the audience joined by clapping, some even with dancing. Elizabeth Schwartz is a great talent – a fine contralto with a voice of 4-dimensional richness. She sings primarily in Yiddish, followed by English, Romanian and some Hebrew. As with Yale, Yiddish is not her native tongue, but they have learned the language as part of their pursuit to preserve and share the magnificence of the lost civilizations of Eastern Europe.
“Early in the concert, Schwartz read a poem from Vilna, the formerly great Lithuanian center of Talmudic learning. Titled, “Wo are they who have a clumsy God,” it captured the tacit anger expressed by the poet for the surrounding non-Jewish populations who did more than express intolerance, they punished Jews, lead pogroms, and condemned them to lives of unjustified hardship.
In the midst of this widely pervasive antisemitism, Jews developed great schools of religious scholarship and houses of worship, wishing nothing more than to teach, study and live the deepest expressions of a heart filled with the love of “HaShem” – continuing traditions going back thousands of years.
During these centuries of Jewish history, klezmer was intertwined with its own purpose. It served to elevate the human spirit in these times of despair. It was the life affirming expression in music called for during times of unstoppable joy. Even the most stern of scholars or the poorest of Jewish peasants could share in these moments of celebration – the weddings, the Bar Mitzvahs, the festivals – or at other times, the soothing of the soul for those confronted with a fellow human’s passage to the hidden world.
Perhaps klezmer is itself the enduring ode to the great Jewish cultures of Eastern Europe, cultures that did ultimately “perish in a world that did not deserve them”, as Elie Wiesel so aptly described.
Strom has an extreme degree of personal knowledge of the lost worlds of Eastern and Central Europe – having made roughly 75 trips to these regions. Described as an “ethnographer-artist”, he gathers research material for his books and artistic creations in his travels. The New York Jewish Week writes: “He’s a gifted photographer and author, a talented documentary filmmaker…Strom’s multifaceted career is a wonder…”
His output also includes string quartets, a symphony, 5 films (one was short-listed for an Academy Award), songs and plays. Formerly a lecturer at NYU, he is currently “artist-in-residence” at SDSU and is widely acclaimed as a “leader in the klezmer revival movement”.
The sounds that emanate from his violin are filled with the cultural and spiritual wealth of the Jewish people. Perhaps more than anyone, he is dedicated to the discovery and transmission of these passions which include research into the expressions of the Rom (gypsies), an ethnicity also ravaged in the last world war. It has been said that when we listen to Strom, not only do we hear playing, we hear praying.
Bringing the music current with contemporary sounds, the styles of Hot Pstromi are influenced by jazz and afro-latin. The terrific talent for the evening included Gunnar Biggs on bass, Jeff Pekarek on amplified acoustic guitar and Duncan Moore on drums.
Overall, the concert was totally memorable. To add a final thought – it is often considered the obligation of a reviewer to find something to complain about; it was too short.
*
Stanley Tiger is President of Jewish Universe Media. He can be reached at universejcom@gmail.com