Dave Tarras (1897-1989) was the individual most responsible for the development of a uniquely American style of Jewish klezmer music. Born into a large klezmer family in Podolia, central Ukraine, Tarras immigrated to New York in 1921. In New York, his talent was immediately recognized and he was quickly conscripted into the local music scene. He would go on to make hundreds of recordings, frequently playing for radio and theater as well as weddings and other jewish communal events. Over time, Tarras evolved as a player and composer, and would introduce a new corpus of repertoire as well as a refined style that reflected musically the aesthetic of an upwardly-mobile and assimilating American Jewish community. Tarras was "rediscovered" in the 1970s by musicians/researchers Andy Statman and Walter Zev Feldman. By the time they met him, klezmer was on life support. The music's long decline occurred for a number of reasons. In 1924 a change in immigration laws greatly restricted the replenishment of Yiddish speakers from Eastern Europe. The trauma of the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 caused American Jews to look toward a new modern Israeli culture rather than that of Europe as a source of inspiration for their peoplehood. And Jews had long been suburbanized and assimilated into the American mainstream. Tarras would take the young musicians under his wing, and Statman became his protege. In 1978, Statman and Feldman worked with the Balkan Arts Center (now Center for Traditional Music and Dance) to create a tour featuring Tarras's trio, Statman and Feldman, as well as Yiddish singers Feigl Yudin and Ethel Raim (Raim was the Center's co-founder and prominent as a vocalist for her work with the Pennywhistlers). The project (which was funded by the NEA) also produced a studio recording of Tarras's trio (which included Sammy Beckerman on accordion and Irving Gratz on drums). Titled "Music for the Traditional Jewish Wedding," this would be Tarras's last studio effort (see http://www.ctmd.org/shopping.htm). The tour was a surprising success, finding capacity crowds of seniors who had came to hear a man that had played many of their weddings. There was also a smaller crowd of young musicians who came out to these concerts; along with Statman and Feldman, they would form the nucleus of a revival of Yiddish culture. Tarras was honored by the NEA with a National Heritage Fellowship in 1984, for his contribution to the nation's cultural heritage (his apprentice, Statman, would also be recognized with a Heritage Fellowship in 2012). The concert footage presented here is from the groundbreaking first concert of the project, held on Sunday, November 19, 1978 at Casa Galicia (now Webster Hall) in Manhattan. The band features Sam Beckerman on accordion and Max Goldberg on drums (Tarras would occasionally use Goldberg rather than Gratz in his trio because Goldberg could also sing). Though Tarras was no longer the technician he had been in his prime, this video is incredibly important as it is the only known footage of him performing publicly. In honor of CTMD's 45th Anniversary in 2013, we are pleased to present Treasures of the CTMD Archive, a 10-part series of video shorts posted weekly to this page and to CTMD's Facebook site beginning May 1. Treasures of the CTMD Archive features rare, one-of-a-kind video of leading masters of immigrant music and dance traditions that have been recently digitized from our Archive. Most of the artists presented in this series are (or were) based in the New York metropolitan area. Sadly, a number of these masters are no longer with us, and so the CTMD Archive provides vital, and sometimes singular, documentation of their artistry and traditions. To view the entire series go to www.ctmd.org/archives.htmer with us, and so the CTMD Archive provides vital, and sometimes singular, documentation of their artistry and traditions. To view the entire series go to http://www.ctmd.org/archives.htm

• published: 13 Jun 2013
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