Hankus Netsky will discuss his book about klezmer music on Sunday, Feb. 19, 11 a.m., at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane in West Mt. Airy.

by Len Lear

When Hankus Netsky, now 61, was growing up in Mt. Airy (first at 6933 Ardleigh St. and after age 12 at 625 Burnham Rd., near Hortter Street), no one could possibly have predicted that he would eventually become a nationally renowned multi-instrumentalist, composer and ethnomusicologist who has collaborated musically with such giants as Itzhak Perlman, Robin Williams, Joel Grey and Theodore Bikel, among many others.

Novelist Thomas Wolfe famously wrote that “You can’t go home again,” but Netsky, who now chairs the Contemporary Improvisation Departments at the New England Conservatory in Boston, is in fact coming home this Sunday, Feb. 19, 11 a.m., to discuss his book, “Klezmer: Music and Community in Twentieth-Century Jewish Philadelphia,” at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane in West Mt. Airy.

And on Sunday evening, 8 p.m., Netsky will direct the Philadelphia Klezmer Heritage Ensemble in a concert entitled "The Sound of (Klezmer) Philadelphia" at Temple Beth Sholom, 8231 Old York Rd., Elkins Park. The concert is presented by The Chestnut Hill Community Concert Series (no connection to the summer concert series in Pastorius Park).

(Klezmer is a musical tradition of Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called “klezmorim,” the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations.)

Netsky was a talented musician, even as a child. A graduate of Central High School in 1972, Class #231, he led the school’s Marching Band and Jazz Band. Today he merely plays the piano, saxophones, oboe, English horn, accordion, clarinet and flute.

“I always wanted to be a musician and composer,” he said last week. “My uncle, Harold Karr, was a composer. He wrote songs for TV (‘The Honeymooners’) and Broadway, including ‘Happy Hunting’ for Ethel Merman.”

Netsky holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and bachelor's and master's degrees in composition from New England Conservatory. He has taught Yiddish Music at Hebrew College, the New England Conservatory and Wesleyan University, and has lectured extensively on the subject in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

His essays on klezmer music have been published by numerous university publishers, and he has composed many film scores. Since 2008 Netsky has been chairman of Contemporary Improvisation at the New England Conservatory, where he has been honored twice for excellence in teaching. He has also received the Conservatory’s outstanding alumni award and the Yosl Mlotek Award for the perpetuation of Yiddish culture.

How did his book on klezmer music come about? “I actually started asking my relatives questions about klezmer music in 1974,” he said, “and did my first interviews outside my family in 1980, but I had no idea I'd ever write a book about it. When I went back to school in 1996 (at Wesleyan for a doctorate), I started working on it more seriously, and at that point I worked on it pretty constantly for eight years.”

Why did Netsky single out Philadelphia for the book? “To show that large American Jewish communities all created unique ethnic identities and cultural scenes, most of which have gone undocumented,” he replied. “Philly was second only to New York for its Jewish musical output, and the musicians in the two cities knew almost nothing about each other's repertoire.

“It was far from Boston, where I've lived since 1973, but my family connections (four uncles and my grandfather) gave me access to musicians that I probably couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Also, unlike many other places, where the music died out much earlier, there were people still alive who had been part of the scene.”

Netsky’s dissertation on the subject was published in 2004 (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor), and his book came out in hardback in 2015, published by Temple University Press.

Why is it important to preserve klezmer music? “Because it's a major resource for musicians who value ethnic traditions, on par with Armenian, Greek, Cajun, Irish, blues, etc. Imagine if one of those musical cultures simply disappeared entirely, like klezmer did. Klezmers were extraordinary virtuosi and wonderful composers. After a few generations here, Eastern European Jews discarded their ethnic musical traditions, replacing them with contemporary Israeli culture or sing-along prayers that sound like American folksongs.

“Cantors were also forced to give up much of the ethnicity of their tradition. Personally, I never accepted any of that. I wanted to know who I really was and where I came from musically. What I found out in reviving klezmer is that millions of people all over the world also resonate with that. But the Jewish educational mainstream is still very resistant ... It would be nice to change that!”

What talent would Netsky most like to have that he does not have? “The ability to sing really well.”

For more information about Hankus Netsky’s Big Blue Marble appearance, call 215-844-1870. For concert information, call 215-380-2588 or visit www.PhillyKlezHeritage.bpt.me. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com