Yale Strom was born in Detroit and moved to San Diego, at the age of twelve, he is the oldest of nine children (eight surviving). Yale was always on the go; orchestra rehearsals, cross-country training, Hebrew school, baseball, basketball, marching in picket-lines and pushing his younger siblings in the stroller. He went to undergraduate school at San Diego State University where he ran collegiate cross-country and track. He finished his studies there earning two BA’s; one in American Studies and the other in Furniture Design.
Between painting, carpet cleaning, gardening and music gigs Yale enjoyed life as an early Eighties slacker. Then one evening he went to a klezmer dance in a downtown club in San Diego, and had the time of his life. He asked if he could join the band and the band leader basically said: “Don’t call us we’ll call you.” He went home and decided that San Diego was big enough for two klezmer bands and he would make his unique.
The next day he called the law schools he was to attend that coming September announcing in Yiddish he would not be showing up. He then proceeded and called to make reservations for a one way ticket to Eastern Europe. He decided that he was going to trek around the “Eastern Bloc” looking for unknown, unrecorded klezmer melodies among the remnant Jewish communities.
During the last fifteen years Yale has been researching the Jewish and Rom (Gypsy) communities of Eastern Europe, the Mediterrenean and Balkan lands. His work has resulted in six photo-documentary books:
- THE LAST JEWS OF EASTERN EUROPE
- A TREE STILL STANDS: JEWISH YOUTH IN EASTERN EUROPE TODAY
- THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS: 500 YEARS OF EXODUS
- THE HASIDIM OF BROOKLYN
- UNCERTAIN ROADS: SEARCHING FOR THE GYPSIES
- QUILTED LANDSCAPES: CONVERSATIONS WITH IMMIGRANT YOUTH
Yale Strom has recorded six music CD’s with his two klezmer bands, Zmiros (San Diego) and Hot Pstromi, (NYC) and three documentary film:
- AT THE CROSSROADS: JEWISH LIFE IN EASTERN EUROPE TODAY (1990)
- THE LAST KLEZMER (1994) – screened at the 14th Annual Jewish Film Festival
- and CARPATI: 50 MILES, 50 YEARS (1996).
The documentary films are available on video through his distributor
- New Yorker Films
Tel: (800) 447-0196.
His music, including a soundtrack of CARPATI, is available through
- Global Village Music
245 W. 29th St. Rm. 402
New York City, NY 10001
Tel: 212-695-6024
Fax: 212-695-6025
Yale became a Mensch once again when he graduated from Columbia University with a graduate degree in Yiddish Studies. He has recently married and can be seen in the photo above with his ‘Neshama’ Elizabeth. Yale in currently working on an original play for The San Diego Repertory Theatre and a screenplay that will be shot in NYC next May. He is also working on a book on the social history of the klezmer musician in pre-WW II Eastern Europe based upon people’s oral history recollections and family photographs. If you or anyone you know has any memories about a klezmer(s) please contact
Yale Strom at
838 Hilldale Ave,
W. Hollywood, CA 90069
Fax: 310-652-7707.
In 1996 CARPATI will be screened at the following theatres:
- Sept. 9, Tampa, Fl (Movies on the Move),
- Sept. 12, St. Louis (Jewish Community Center),
- Sept. 22, Voorhies, NJ (Ritz 12),
- Oct. 17, Honolulu, HA (Academy of the Arts),
- Nov. 3, Cleveland, OH (Museum of Art),
- Nov. 4, Detroit, MI (Detroit Institute of the Arts),
- Nov. 12, NYC (Margaret Mead Film Festival-Natural History Museum),
- Nov. 14, LA (Music Box Theatre),
- Dec. 21, Norfolk, VA (Naro Theatre),
- Feb. 2, Columbus, OH (Wexner Center).
47 Songs Performed by Yale Strom
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Anshel Shachnai's Freylakhs1:20
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Arader Khosedl1:12
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Bazetsn Di Kale2:28
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Berditshever Khosed2:05
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Beregovsky's Bulgar0:52
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Besarabish Bulgar2:36
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Beygalakh1:46
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Boogich Bulgar2:02
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Bosnian Vals1:21
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Boyberiker Wedding Bulgar1:43
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Buena Semana Mos de el Dio4:06
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Buhusher Nign1:49
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Bulgar2:06
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Der Sarver's Sher1:51
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Doina Tirgu Frumos9:43
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Dubosaary Bulgar2:12
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Dunlitskys Skotshne1:04
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Finf Un Tzvantziker6:42
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Fun Der Khupe1:08
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Gulerman's Doyne2:27
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Ikh Vill Tzu Gayn Amol4:04
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Karahod Fun Varshe1:17
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Karliner Dveykes Nign2:42
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Khupe Marsh4:12
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Ki Anu Amecha2:08
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Kolomeyke3:12
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Koydinover Nign2:04
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La Comida la Manyana3:47
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Makonovetsky's Zhok1:19
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Mazl Tov1:05
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Moscow Nights6:33
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Papirosn3:26
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Rabinovitch's Dobranotsh1:34
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Reisele3:53
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Rivke6:07
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Ropshitser Nign1:20
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Rotenberg's Mitzvah Tentsl2:13
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Rumenyish Serba3:18
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Rumeynish Serba1:48
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Sakhnovskys Zhok2:12
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Sha Shtil6:31
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Sher2:28
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Sheva B'Rachot8:01
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Tsu Der Khupe Marsh1:43
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Ukraynish Kek-Vok1:40
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Vals Fun Varshe1:16
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Yidl mit 'n Fidl1:52
18 Songs Composed by Yale Strom
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A Stone on a Stone3:25
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A Well2:42
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Among the Highest2:39
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City of the Future4:36
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Factory Song4:18
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Girls Sewing at the Machines3:39
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Luminous Detachments1:49
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My Youth3:45
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Not to Worry6:55
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October6:24
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On the Slope3:13
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Red Army3:24
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The Song of the Collective Farmer1:53
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The Young Guard5:32
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This Will Be2:33
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Village Pain2:41
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Who Did It3:39
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Young Forces Grow5:26
