For the second, consecutive year, KlezFest Music Festival has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is a sad, but necessary development to ensure the safety of the festival-going crowd. While it certainly is no substitute for the festival itself, Sidney Lipton, founder of the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band, and co-founder of the KlezFest Festival, recently agreed to be interviewed to share the history of his involvement in Jewish music, and his incredible influence on Jewish cultural life in Central New York.

IN SIDNEY’S WORDS…

I did not really grow up in a home with music. I lived in a small town which couldn’t afford bands, but they encouraged music by holding sing-alongs in the school auditorium.

Have I always liked music? Yes. I always wanted to try to play the piano, but the opportunity wasn’t there.

I first heard klezmer in the early 50’s, and I didn’t even recognize it. I recall hearing Mickey Katz when he brought his orchestra to play a concert in Dayton, Ohio, and then he followed that with a program in Cincinnati. It was all Jewish music, and I liked what I heard, but I didn’t know it was klezmer.

About that time I became very friendly with a conservative cantor at a synagogue in Dayton. On Friday nights there would be a concert and I would hear his davening. It was really great. It was all in the klezmer modes. When I hear these modes, it really connects me with my family, going back through all the generations. It’s my heart and soul. It is so Jewish, and I love that. It just makes me feel Jewish.

I love the Hassidic music, but it is not my favorite. I love most what I call basic, typical Jewish folk music; the bulgars, the chussidls, the Terkisher tunes, - whatever I hear singing or playing along to the old fraigish scales. [A fraigish scale figures prominently in Eastern European music, particularly klezmer music, and melodies based on this scale have an exotic, romantic flavor for listeners accustomed to more typical Western scales.] I think what I like most of all, though, is that music which pulls from the heart, the folk music of our families, all of our families.

I really don’t know why this fell on me. All I know is that we lived in Syracuse, and inside me, I kept asking, “I see all of these other ethnic festivals, but why aren’t there any Jewish festivals?”

Now, I don’t know why, but it bothered me for years. I wanted to see what music we Jews have. I don’t have a good background in music theory, so what I did was try to figure out, while I was attending these other festivals, what kind of music we could use to play all day that Jewish and non-Jewish people would like.

It was a mystery I couldn’t solve until I met a young woman who told me about a music camp called KlezKamp. It was held on an annual basis in the Catskills, and featured klezmer instructional classes and opportunities to play in small ensembles and large bands with other klezmer musicians of all skill levels and backgrounds. It certainly seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.

Donna and I packed our bags and headed off to KlezKamp in the winter of 1995. It was the organization’s 11th annual event, and it was where I played klezmer for the very first time.

It was also where I met Pete Sokolow and Sy Kushner and all of the other remarkable klezmer musicians.

These talented musicians were first generation Americans - their families had come over years ago as klezmer musicians trying to make a living in America. Now, building on that background, when they got up on the stage and started to play those clarinets, and I heard this wonderful music, - well, I said to Donna, “Oh my God! That’s it! My God! That’s it!”

It was that simple. That was a eureka moment. And I know I was crying like mad when I first heard those tunes. It was these guys playing straight klezmer. I had heard music like this played as fast as it could be played before, - but these guys were playing it from the heart, and all of a sudden I could really hear the music.

As far as it being called “klezmer,” there was a revival of this music in the 70’s and 80’s, mostly as a result of the efforts of musician and music historian Henry Sapoznik. It created a sensation among people who had never heard it before, and the name “klezmer” was revived along with the music. It means “instruments of melody.”

And when I heard it in 1995, I said to myself, “I have to keep it going.” And that’s it. Baruch HaShem.

But it almost wasn’t meant to be. The whole thing came so close to not happening at all - no Keyna Hora Klezmer Band - no KlezFest Music Festival - no klezmer music in Syracuse at all. Here is what happened.

I went to KlezKamp with my banjo. During the day they held classes. I went to my first class and the teacher said, “So, you want to play klezmer music? Klezmer music is all played by ear.” And I thought to myself, “By ear? I don’t know anything about ‘by ear.’”

He would sing a song and everyone in class would pick it out on their instruments, - but not me. I didn’t know what to do and I was lost. I didn’t do a thing in that class.

The next class was an ensemble, led by Pete Sokolow. I remember that the guy sitting next to me did a beautiful job on the clarinet. Pete asked him, “That has great sound. How much did you pay for that clarinet?” At that time, top dollar would have been around $4000. He told him he paid $8000 in Germany. Turns out, he was from Berlin. He was the premier player on the clarinet for the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He wanted to learn how to play klezmer clarinet, and that’s why he was there.

That was the caliber of the folks in that class - and then there was me with my banjo. When we started playing, I played the rhythm I had learned when playing in Eddie Fagan’s old-time favorites band back home: 1-2-3-4. That’s what I knew how to do, and Eddie would always just say to me: “Keep going! Just keep going!”

1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. We played for a couple of minutes, and then Pete yelled “Stop!” He looked at me and said, “I don’t want you to do that. You should play off-beat.” And I thought, “What the hell is off-beat?” Then he told me to play the second and fourth beats. I had never heard of that. I tried, but I didn’t do it right. Then he said again, “Stop! You don’t know how.” I started to ask if he would teach me and he said, “No! That’s up to you to learn, and if you don’t play it right, you should just stop.”

In the afternoon, I went to Sy Kushner’s class. There, I played the chords for him, and asked, “Am I playing these right?” And he replied, “You know, you really should be playing those off-beat.” So, there it was again, - I knew I was screwed up.

The last class of the day was the American Dance Band, led by Pete, and again, it was hopeless.

I asked my instrument instructor to teach me, but he said he did not have the time.

That’s when I saw Donna, and I said, “They don’t want me here. What we’re going to do is while they have their concert at night, we’re going to pack up and we’re going to leave tomorrow morning.” And I explained, “The hell with it, I don’t know what they want from me and they’re not going to teach me how to do it.”

But, here is what happened. That afternoon there was a slow jam. That’s an opportunity to play in a small ensemble, -but play slower than is usually done so newer players can get accustomed to the music. Sy Kushner showed up and had mentioned he was a retired music teacher.

I told him my problem. “They keep saying I need to play off-beat. Is it possible for you to give me a lesson?” And he said, yes, he would work with me. We only spent about 15 minutes together, and all of a sudden I understood what we were doing and what it was for. Sy went and grabbed some music from the slow jam happening nearby, and we worked with that - and I got it. And no charge for the lesson, either!

And while I was playing, very slowly, the off-beats, who came by? - Pete Sokolow. He looked at me and said, “That’s exactly what I want. You play like that - everything will be great. That’s all I want.”

This is why I love Sy Kushner to this very day.

Oh my God - the sun shines! I said to Donna, “Forget it! We’re staying!” That’s how close we came to losing everything.

As far as the band is concerned, I knew I couldn’t wait a whole year for another KlezKamp to hear this music again. I wanted to play it, and so I needed to get a group together to play so we could have it all year round.

As soon as I got home I placed an ad in the Jewish Observer asking for people to get together and jam. It read: I am looking for amateur musicians interested in forming an informal klezmer group to play Yiddish, Hassidic and Israeli music in the klezmer style. It is hoped that the group would meet weekly for the enjoyment of playing music and for good times. And so that was the start of the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band.

And then it began to grow. The first person who responded to the ad was Margie Schlisserman, - a great pianist, outstanding. She introduced me to the Kammen book [a compilation of Jewish music]. She used it all the time in her performances. It was exactly what we needed.

And then there was Sam Katz, an accomplished violinist with the Onondaga Symphony Orchestra.

Somewhere along the line we figured out that we needed somebody to sing. I knew that Mimi Weiner was taking voice lessons, so I asked her if she would do some singing for the band. And she did, even bringing along her violin, which she hadn’t played in years. When Sam Katz heard her play, he immediately told her to take the violin home and leave it there. So, Mimi continued to sing with the band, and secretly took refresher violin lessons on the side. In time, she improved so much that she gave up the singing and brought her violin playing back to the band. Nowadays, she is quite accomplished at it.

Then Mike Fixler joined the band. He played clarinet and saxophone.

I think it was Mike Fixler who suggested the name of “Keyna Hora” for the band. The translation from Yiddish is “no evil eye.”

Alan Kosoff played drums and commented that it was the first time he had ever taken them out of his basement. Harvey Pearl started with an old mandolin and was so dissatisfied, he had a new one made.

There were others, too. Megan Mawhinney on clarinet. Carl Borek on clarinet and saxophone. Neil Novelli on banjo. Sam Young played euphonium. Bill Sanderson played trumpet.

Becky Kaplan joined the band as a vocalist. She had a tremendous voice. She knew Yiddish, and Hebrew, and taught music in the Syracuse schools. She also played oboe. It turned out that when she sang, people would comment that she sounded as though she had just stepped out from the shtetl [a small village in Eastern Europe].

Marty Miller also joined as a vocalist. He had a wonderful, throaty baritone voice.

Some stayed with the group for a while. Others are still with us. That small klezmer band has grown over the years into a 15-piece musical ensemble with motivational dancers. Today, the Keyna Hora Klezmer Band features: Marla Eglowstein, bass; Jan Gilkey, clarinet; Paul Goldsman, mandolin; Alan Kosoff, drums; Elaine Meltzer, violin; Harvey Pearl, mandolin; Britta Serog, cello; Harry Sommer, vocalist and motivational dancer; Ernie Wass, violin; Sue Wass, piano; Cheryl Wolfe, vocalist; Mark Wolfe, drums, percussion, accordion, & vocalist; and Rosalie Young, poik. I strum along on the banjo, and Mimi Weiner plays violin and conducts the entire ensemble.

Chongchun Chen is a vocalist and motivational dancer. Linda D’Imperio joins her in the dancing.

As I tell people all the time, as far as becoming a member of the band is concerned, the only requirement is that you are breathing!

We used the music I brought back from KlezKamp each year, and Mike Fixler was also able to provide us with some music which originated in Yiddish theater. Mostly, we used the Kammen book. We even bought Kammen books for everybody in the band because we didn’t want to violate copyright law by making illegal copies.

We rehearsed at Margie’s house at first, and her piano accompaniment made us sound like we were the greatest band you had ever heard.

Let me tell you about Murray Shore, Rabbi Shore’s father. That was a critical point for the band, too. Somehow, we were playing for the first time over at The Oaks, where Murray was living at the time. He knew all of the songs we were doing and enjoyed our performance so much that he convinced Sally Lapides, the Oaks director, to allow us to rehearse there every week. The Oaks became our rehearsal home. We treasure the Oaks Folks, who have patiently allowed us to use them as our test audience as we practice to improve our musical skills and work out our performance numbers.

Eventually, the Jewish community found out about us. Hadassah asked us to play sing-alongs for them, and also the Beth El Sisterhood.

Then, somebody hired us to play for a bar mitzvah, and then someone’s 83rd birthday, and so it grew. We did bar mitzvahs in Utica and Rome, and Ithaca.

We especially enjoyed playing for the folks in local nursing homes and senior residences.

When a large community of Russian Jews settled in Syracuse, we were fortunate to meet Alex Viknyansky, an accomplished band leader from Russia who took over that function for us. His direction improved the band. When he finally left to move to Philadelphia, he was sorely missed. Mimi Weiner took over the leadership and management of the band, and has admirably filled that role ever since.

Over the years we have had many memorable performances. I especially recall playing at Sackett’s Harbor State Park. They ran music programs during the summer. The park advertised that there would be a klezmer band performance. Coincidentally, there was a large bar mitzvah celebration going on in nearby Watertown. The bar mitzvah people made it a point to go to Sackett’s Harbor to listen to us play and to dance along. The turnout was great - great dancing and great joy. Our clarinet player’s family came along and provided us with a wonderful picnic lunch.

Another time we were invited to join the lineup of performers at a concert held at Hosmer Auditorium at the Everson Museum. A variety of ethnic music groups were presented, and we proudly offered an exciting program of klezmer.

I fondly recall a special program we offered at Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas. We decorated the social hall with show posters from turn-of-the-last-century Yiddish theater productions, and then presented a musical program of some of the most enduring and memorable music from that era.

I also recall the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel held in downtown Syracuse. Our group was there and participated. You talk about crowd participation! We had flags flying – the middle flag was the U.S. flag, and it was surrounded by flags of Israel. Flying over Clinton Square. That was a prized, proud moment.

Of course, our favorite gig is KlezFest, formerly known as the Jewish Music and Cultural Festival. Mimi Weiner and I were instrumental in co-founding it here in Syracuse. That was our vision to create an annual event that would feature klezmer music in Central New York, inviting musical performers to bring klezmer to Syracuse. We started in 2000 with a wonderful line-up of well-known professional klezmer performers, some of them were musicians I had come to know at KlezKamp. Each following year, we expanded the festival’s offerings to include local, regional, national, and even international talent. Keyna Hora is the host band, and we perform every year. The festival is our crowning glory.

Another very special memorable event was our participation in Rejoice Jewish Culture and Music Festival, a klezmer festival held in South Brunswick, New Jersey. It was inspired by our own KlezFest. Mimi’s cousin, Aaron Rosloff, visited her in Syracuse and was so excited by our festival that he returned home to form a committee and start his own.

Rejoice was held in September, 2008, and featured Keyna Hora as its headlining act. The festival was a huge success, and we were so proud to have inspired it.

I think the music should stay here. I hope that the band will continue, and I want the music to stay in the klezmer modes.

I really feel that somehow it was meant to be - that is, to have Jewish music and our Jewish festival here in Syracuse. I want people to come and play and enjoy the music.

All I care about is that we stick with the klezmer modes - the Hasidic and the typical Jewish folk song modes. Just keep going. Bring music out to the people. I don’t want it to die out again, as it did in the last century. This is what I hope. Just keep going.

Somehow inside me, I know there are two important thoughts. First, as far as being Jewish, we should always be proud of ourselves. And second, I want the world to know that the Jewish people are here, and the Jewish people live. It’s so important. So many times you go downtown to Clinton Square and you see all of these other groups there, but nothing Jewish. I want the world to know we are here. You know, I’m constantly hearing this. “Where are the Jews?” Well, I want them to know we are here. As I attend performances in Syracuse, I can see in the operas, the names who support the opera, and the symphony, but I don’t really see support for Jewish music in our own community. You know, the Irish are there, … the Italians are there, … I think it’s very important that you know that the Jews are there, too, and be proud of yourself.

It bothers me when I hear people say, “I don’t let people know I’m Jewish.” That bothers me. They should be proud of who they are.

One of the things that keeps people going in any ethnic group is their music. Whether you’re Italian, Polish. Music keeps you going. It means a lot.

Let me tell you a story, about Rimsky-Korsakov. He was teaching in this beautiful seminary in St. Petersburg. All of these Jewish people were there and telling him they wanted to learn how to become great Russian composers. Rimsky-Korsakov told his students, “Do you know your own Jewish music? It’s some of the greatest music ever written. You don’t realize how much Jewish music we use to put into our symphonies. You go back and learn your Jewish music. That’s where you want to concentrate.”

And then there’s Heifetz, and there’s beautiful violin music inside. And we are so blessed. I don’t know why we want to hide it.

If you really look at Syracuse Symphony, and Symphoria, they offer concerts of beautiful music, sometimes using ethnic themes from a variety of cultures, - but no Jewish music. The Utica Symphony produced a program one year of Hanukkah music, and Robin Seletsky, accomplished clarinetist, was invited to play with them. Can we get this kind of program in Syracuse? No.

So to me, the only place we can get klezmer music in Syracuse is from our own band and festival. That’s the only thing that’s going to keep klezmer music going. I really feel it’s meant to be upstate. And I don’t want to see it fade.

That’s why we’re all so glad to have KlezFest here in Syracuse.

Last thoughts to share? I just wish we could keep going and going and going, find places to play the music … when we played at DeWitt Community Library last time, someone came over to me and said “This is wonderful! And I’m not even Jewish!”

So, we have the music. And I read recently in the Jewish Observer. “I’m not religious, and I don’t attend services very often, … but I never miss KlezFest!”

That connects us. I just hope we keep it going going going. I don’t know how we do it, but so far …

We started at KlezKamp in 1995. We’ve gone every year since.

Pete & Sy have become our good friends over the years. They have even performed at KlezFest, and Sy comes every year to enjoy the festival.

I think back on performances at weddings, Simchat Torah celebrations, bar mitzvahs, New Year’s Eve celebrations, and Izzie Warshaw’s annual 100+ birthday parties.

I just hope we keep going, We must continue to play Jewish music. We want the world to know that the Jewish people are alive and well.

Am Yisrael Chai.