Naftule Brandwein

Naftule Brandwein, or Naftuli Brandwine, (1884–1963) was a Jewish clarinetist and influential klezmer musician.

Biography

Early life

Brandwein was born in Przemyslany, Poland-Galicia (now Ukraine), into a family of klezmer musicians, part of the Stretiner Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Yehuda Hirsch Brandwein of Stratin. His father Peysekhe played violin and was an improvising wedding poet (badkhn); of his thirteen sons, Moyshe played violin, French horn, and valve trombone, Mendel played piano, Leyzer played drums, and Azriel played cornet; Azriel became Naftule's first music teacher, and had a lasting impact on his playing.

Emigration to the United States

In 1908 Brandwein emigrated at the age of nineteen to the United States where he quickly became a star of the 78 rpm record era, proclaiming himself the "King of Jewish Music". Thus, he was considered to be among the first wave of American klezmer artists, those trained in the Old World, as opposed to the second generation who learned their skills in America. Between 1922 and 1927, he cut twenty-four records, first as a member of Abe Schwartz's orchestra, and then as a solo artist after 1923.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Naftule_Brandwein

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