Dave Tarras (c. 1895 – February 13, 1989) was a
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
-born American
klezmer clarinetist and bandleader, a celebrated klezmer musician, instrumental in
Klezmer revival
Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...
.
Biography
Early life
Tarras was born David
Tarasiuk in
Teplyk, Ukraine and later moved to
Ternivka, a village which was then in
Podolian Governorate
The Podolia Governorate or Podillia Governorate (), set up after the Second Partition of Poland, was a governorate (''gubernia'', ''province'', or ''government'') of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1 ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and which is now in
Teplytskyi Raion,
Vinnytsia Oblast
Vinnytsia Oblast ( uk, Ві́нницька о́бласть, translit=Vinnytska oblast; ; also referred to as Vinnychchyna — uk, Ві́нниччина) is an oblast of western and southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is Vinnytsia. ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
[ Shulamit Shalit]
"Король клейзмеров Дэйв Таррас (1897-1989)"
''Evreyskaya Starina'', no. 4(79), 2013; ''Quote'': "Родом мы из Теплика, это на Украине. Потом уже в Терновку перебрались" We hail from Teplyk, and only later moved to Ternivka"/ref> His exact birthday is disputed; it is often given as March 15, 1895, but other credible accounts give it as 1898. He came from a klezmer family; to the family of Rakhmil Tarasyuk, who was a klezmer trombonist
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
, and Sheyndl, his grandfather was a fiddler and '' badkhn''[ and Dave's five brothers became professional musicians as well.] Dave grew up playing a variety of instruments and immersed in klezmer music. His main instrument was the flute for several years, until he switched to the clarinet in around 1909. By that time he could also play the Balalaika
The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...
, guitar, and mandolin. He was conscripted into the tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
's army in 1915, but his talents as a musician kept him out of the trenches.
After leaving the Russian empire, Tarras lived in Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
for a short time. After making his way to Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
, he sailed for New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1921, where he worked in a garment factory for a time.
Music career
Eventually he found he could make money as a musician, and worked as a clarinetist
This article lists notable musicians who have played the clarinet.
Classical clarinetists
* Laver Bariu
* Ernest Ačkun
* Luís Afonso
* Cristiano Alves
* Michel Arrignon
* Dimitri Ashkenazy
* Kinan Azmeh
* Alexander Bader
* Carl Baerma ...
in many of New York's klezmer ensembles. He also became the preferred accompanist to many popular stars of Yiddish theater and for some of the great cantors of the time period. In addition to Jewish music, he also recorded Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
and Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n tunes. His ability to play different styles was further masked by the use of pseudonyms on his recordings for Columbia Records. It is conservatively estimated that he participated in 500 recordings during his career. The Dave Tarras Orchestra made numerous New York City radio appearances, starting in the 1930s.
His skill and reliability enabled him to play for many years longer than the other klezmer pioneers of his day ( Naftule Brandwein, for example had retired or left the business). Tarras' experience playing in the czarist military band, his ability to read music, and his excellent command of the Yiddish style made him a favorite among bandleaders. After klezmer music fell out of fashion following World War II, Tarras remained one of the few musicians to still record and play actively. His style has been characterized as smooth and dignified, with deliberate and rhythmical phrasing. His personal repertoire came from his Bessarabian roots and the influences of Jewish and Gypsy (Roma) music. Zev Feldman has credited Tarras with not only "Bessarabianizing" Jewish dance music, but also with replacing what had been the dominant tune style of the freylekh with the Bulgar.
Tarras' most enduring recording, ''Tanz!'' (1956) was the brainchild of his son-in-law, clarinetist and saxophonist Sam Musiker. The ''San Francisco Examiner'' called it an "unusual folk album," noting that Tarras and Musiker "provide lively, gay, dancing music, under which lies often that same sardonic note which underlies the humor of Sholem Aleichim." The album, which successfully combines jazz and klezmer idioms, was not generally well received in its day, but remains central to the canon of present-day revivalists. Over the course of his career, Tarras was recognized for creating "a new klezmer sound that fused popular American music with recognizable European roots".
At the beginning of the klezmer revival
Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...
in the 1970s and 80s, Tarras mentored many young musicians who went on to become famous, including mandolinist Andy Statman
Andy Statman (born 1950) is a noted American klezmer clarinetist and bluegrass/ newgrass mandolinist.
Life and career
Statman was born in New York City and grew up in the borough of Queens. Beginning at age 12, he learned to play banjo and g ...
.
Tarras was a recipient of a 1984 National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's ...
awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
Tarras died of pneumonia in February 1989 in Oceanside, New York
Oceanside is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the southern part of the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 32,109 at the 2010 census.
History
Originally known as South Bay, the En ...
. He was buried in the Montefiore Cemetery
Montefiore Cemetery, also known as Old Montefiore Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens, New York, established in 1908. The cemetery is called by several names, including Old Montefiore, Springfield, or less commonly, just ...
.
Family
Tarras's wife was named Sarah.
When Tarras died in 1989 an obituary noted that he was survived by his brother (Froika), a daughter (Brouny), a son (Seymour), and seven grandchildren.
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarras, Dave
Klezmer musicians
American clarinetists
National Heritage Fellowship winners
1890s births
1989 deaths
Ukrainian Jews
20th-century American musicians
People from Vinnytsia Oblast
Columbia Records artists