Dave Tarras: Celebrating the King of American Klezmer Music

On March 21, 2010, the Center for Traditional Music and Dance's An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture and the Museum at Eldridge Street presented "The Tarras Legacy: A Celebration of the King of American Klezmer Music" with internationally renowned clarinetist and ethnomusicologist Joel Rubin (University of Virginia).

This special multi-media concert at the beautifully restored Museum at Eldridge Street's synagogue sanctuary featured live performances as well as rare video footage and photographs of Dave Tarras from CTMD's Archive. Clarinetist Dave Tarras (1895-1989) remains the most influential and well-known American klezmer musician of all time. Through his compositions, live performances and recordings, the Ukrainian-born virtuoso was the unrivaled leader in the creation of a uniquely American klezmer sound. While the popularity of klezmer amongst American Jews declined precipitously after WWII, Tarras's career was reborn in the late 1970's through a project conducted by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (then called the Balkan Arts Center). The project played a major role in sparking an international revival of klezmer, and thirty-one years after his death, Tarras remains an indelible force in the performance and conception of klezmer.

Concert featured Joel Rubin (clarinet), with Art Bailey (accordion), David Licht (drums) and Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dave Tarras
• Joel Rubin
• CTMD
• klezmer
• clarinet