Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project - Interview with Velvel Pasternak August 17 2013





Velvel Pasternak was interviewed by Hankus Netsky on August 15, 2011 at his home in New York.

Velvel Pasternak, musicologist and major publisher of Jewish music, talks about Jewish Music,

  • recalls the difficulties of recording nigunim as sung by hasidim, as well as the rewards of believing in music,
  • recounts a story about his colleague Vladimir Heifetz that demonstrate the differences between the Satmar and Chabad Hasidic sects' attitudes toward outsiders,
  • talks about his reasons for writing down and recording nigunim (traditional wordless melodies) and other traditional Jewish music,
  • talks about some of his early work recording nigunim (traditional wordless melodies) of the Modzitz hasidic dynasty and gives insight into how songs become part of the Jewish repertoire,
  • tells the story of how he began the career of transcribing and publishing traditional Jewish music,
  • and much more...


Run time: 131 minutes 4 seconds

To learn more about the Wexler Oral History Project, visit: http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/tell-your-story

To cite this interview: Velvel Pasternak Oral History Interview, interviewed by Hankus Netsky, Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project, Cedarhurst, NY, August 15, 2011. Video recording, http://archive.org/details/VelvelPasternak15aug2011YiddishBookCenter