Author and pioneering klezmer performer Walter Zev Feldman discusses his book From the Bronx to the Bosphorus: Klezmer and Other Displaced Musics of New York with Princeton Professor of Near Eastern Studies Andras P. Hamori. From the Bronx to the Bosphorus explores the vibrant, yet largely concealed, musical culture of New York, tracing its origins to a period when the city served as a crucible for immigrants and their diverse musical expressions. Walter Zev Feldman chronicles his journey through the musical landscapes of post-WWII New York--from the declining world of East European immigrant klezmorim to the dynamic environments of Greek, Armenian and Caucasian musicians. The episodes from his earlier life related here portray the mysterious legacy of these forgotten ancestors in mid-twentieth century New York. Walter Zev Feldman is a leading researcher in both Ottoman Turkish and Jewish music. During the 1970s he spearheaded the revival of klezmer music. Today he is a performer on the klezmer dulcimer, the cimbal, and on the Ottoman lute, the tanbur. He had taught at Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Bar Ilan University and at NYU Abu Dhabi. Between 2011 and 2015 he researched the Jewish, Roma and Greek musical traditions of Moldova/Bessarabia, sponsored by NYU Abu Dhabi. Feldman is also an authority on Ashkenazic dance, forming part of his current research on the role of gesture in the performing arts, which he taught in the NYU Abu Dhabi core course "Gesture" (2013-15) and in NYU on the Square (2018). In 2017 he gave a series of workshops on this topic in Tokyo, Moscow, and Montreal. In 2004 he co-directed the successful application of the Mevlevi Dervishes of Turkey as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity for UNESCO.
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