Books
Strom's research has resulted in nine books (including The Last Jews of Eastern Europe and Uncertain Roads: Searching for the Gypsies. He was the first photographer since Roman Vishniac to publish photographs of Jews in the Eastern Bloc countries.
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If you would like to purchase a book that is listed on this page, please contact Yale Strom directly.
SHLOYML BOYML
And His Purim Adventure
Our most beloved klezmer, Shloyml-Boyml returns in a new marvelous adventure! Last time around he single-handedly saved Chanukah, but this time he's the one in need of saving. One day Shloyml receives a letter from the Rebbe in Ștefănești inviting him and his band to play at the annual Purim party. So far so good, but the Rebbe has a special request, he wants the band to perform a new Purim song played on the violin, and as it happens, there's no fiddler in Shloyml's band. Thus commence a ferocious search for a new fiddler and sometimes salvation is waiting in the most unexpected of places. In other words; Get ready for a Purim party out of the ordinary!
Shloyml-Boyml un di purim-avanture is a bilingual book in Yiddish and English. Written by the famous klezmer genius Yale Strom and illustrated by the amazing artist Emil Singer-Fuer. Yiddish translation by Nikolaj Olniansky.
The Book
of Klezmer
The history, the music, the folklore - from the 14th Century to the 21st
The Book of Klezmer traces the music’s entire history, making use of extensive documentary material; interviews with forgotten klezmorim as well as luminaries such as Theodore Bikel, Leonard Nimoy, Joel Grey, Andy Statman, and John Zorn; and dozens of illuminating, stirring, and previously unpublished photographs.
The absolutely complete klezMer songbook
Transcontinental Music Folios
Renowned ethnomusicologist, documentarian, and klezmer musician Yale Strom teamed up with Transcontinental Music to create an exhaustive compilation of nigunim, horas, bulgars , and more. This songbook features melody lines and chords for 313 songs including many collected from the field by Strom himself in Eastern Europe and published here for the first time, plus a number of exclusive, out-of-print lost treasures not available anywhere else. Strom also provides a thorough, extensive written history and perspective of klezmer, complete with a glossary and archival photos.
A Wandering Feast
A Journey through the jewish culture of eastern europe
An original and uplifting view of a world lost, reborn, and rediscovered This is a delightful book that welcomes the reader to a wonderful journey through the Jewish culture of Eastern Europe: the still-vibrant villages and homes, the Yiddish folkways, the toe-tapping Klezmer music, and heart-warming traditional food. Yale Strom documented his journey--organized around fourteen specific visits to authentic villages in Eastern Europe--with a fascinating travelogue that includes inspiring stories, photographs, music that has never been printed, and recipes. He reveals that a culture long feared to be gone forever is still very much alive.
Shpil
The Art of Playing klezmer
Both a history of this popular form of traditional Jewish music and an instructional book for professional and amateur musicians. Since the revival of klezmer music in the United States in the mid-1970s, Yiddish songs and klezmer dance melodies have served as the soundtrack for a resurgence of interest in Ashkenazic Jewish culture across the globe. Klezmer has taken root not only in America’s major urban centers—New York City, Chicago, San Francisco—but also in emerging Jewish music hotspots like St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Krakow, and Tokyo. Its high energy, emotionally driven sound, and evocative Yiddish lyrics have found audiences everywhere.
Shloyml boyml
and his lucky dreidel
The talented Klezmer musician, (trombonist) Shloyml Boyml (Solomon Oil) from BuhuÈ™i, embarks on a long journey to buy the best Israeli olive oil – the one thing needed for the BuhuÈ™i community to once again stand victorious in the yearly Latke contest. Will he manage to bring the oil back home in time, or will he be stopped by the devious Nebish brothers? In the end, it all comes down to a thrilling game of dreydl! This story comes from the author’s extensive ethnographic research he has done over the last thirty years in Eastern Europe among the remnant Jewish communities. The story comes from a conversation Strom had with the sexton of the synagogue in Piatra Nemt, Romania about how Jews who could afford it would go to the city of Contansa and purchase olive oil made in Israel (then in the Ottoman Empire) to use for cooking and lighting their Khanukias for the festival of Khanuka.
Dave Tarras
The King of Klezmer
This novel chronicles the life and work of the man who was hailed as "The Benny Goodman of klezmer". Scion of a musical family, Tarras learned his craft from his father and played at weddings for Jews and non-Jews in and around Ternovke, Russia - even playing in the Czarist army - up to World War One. He immigrated to America with his wife and after a brief stint as a furrier, began to make a living with his clarinet. He soon became the most acclaimed klezmer in the United States. From 1925 until his death in 1989, Dave Tarras set the standard for klezmer musicianship and virtuosity. Even the great be-bop artists Charlie Parker and Miles Davis traveled to the Catskills to study his technique. Written with full cooperation from the Tarras family, this book contains newly-discovered biographical material, rare photos, and 28 of Tarras' original klezmer tunes, arranged from his manuscripts for violin and/or Bb clarinet.
