Radiant Others: A Klezmer Music Podcast

We ring in the Jewish new year with a very exciting conversation between Dan and singer, educator, cantor, and activist, Laura Elkeslassy. Laura was born in Paris, is based in Brooklyn, and has been making big waves across the Jewish music world for a number of years. Her new, debut album, Ya Ghorbati / يا غربتي | Divas … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/laura-elkeslassy/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Laura Elkeslassy</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

This episode continues our exploration of the UK’s klezmer scene. Today, Dan talks to one of the longtime movers and shakers on the scene, violinist, festival organizer, teacher and more, Ilana Cravitz! Ilana is a violinist specializing in klezmer as well as baroque historical performance. She has performed and taught all over Europe and throughout the world. … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/ilana-cravitz/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Ilana Cravitz</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Today on Radiant Others we finish off our unofficial and unintended “A” trilogy with Dan’s chat with guitarist, singer/songwriter, Avi Fox-Rosen! Avi has been doing resonant work in Yiddish music for twenty years, most notably as a central player on Adrienne Cooper’s album Enchanted, and as part of the “guitarmony” of Yiddish Princess. His new album, … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/avi-fox-rosen/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Avi Fox-Rosen</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Today’s episode should have been a halloween episode! This time, Dan sits down with Historian, Yiddishist, singer, and messenger of deep Jewish ritual practices, Annie Gottfried Cohen! Annie is based in the UK, teaches Yiddish through the Workers Circle, and has sung with Cantor Rachel Weston, the Isle of Klezbos, and on her own Yiddish … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/annie-gottfried-cohen/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Annie Gottfried Cohen</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

It’s a special Yontif edition of Radiant Others!! Hot off the release of her debut album Through the Walls, today’s episode features Dan’s conversation with UK violinist Anna Lowenstein! Anna Lowenstein is a leader klezmer fiddler and teacher in the UK and beyond. She is part of a younger cohort (than Dan at least) who … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/anna-lowenstein/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Anna Lowenstein</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

For this month’s episode we turn to happenings in Dan’s home neighborhood of West Philly. Turns out, there’s a whole lot of Yiddish Culture being organized and created here, right now! Find out all about it from this live Radiant Others recording Dan held at Kol Tzedek Synagogue (where he leads the inimitable Simcha Band) … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/new-philly-yiddish-culture-live/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">New Philly Yiddish Culture Live!</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

It’s time to head back to the earliest days of the so-called klezmer revival with today’s guests, saxophonist Lev Liberman and clarinettist David Julian Gray of The Klezmorim. Founded in Berkeley California in 1975, this band started playing the repertoire that so many of us know and love and sharing it first in the Bay Area, then soon all … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/lev-liberman-and-david-julian-gray-the-klezmorim/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Lev Liberman and David Julian Gray (The Klezmorim)</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Dan here! We made it through another year and are ready to start the new one with a really amazing conversation. I am so excited to share my (first ever) conversation with professor Devin Naar. Devin E. Naar is the Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies and the chair of Sephardic Studies at the University of … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/devin-naar/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Devin Naar</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Our penultimate podcast of 2025 delves into the rarified and mysterious mystical musical form, Khazones. Khazones is Yiddish term for the work of the synagogue cantor, or Khazn. It is music, prayer, speech, and more all at once. Today we talk with two incredible musicians, Judith Berkson and Jeremiah Lockwood. They have banded together to … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/khazones-underground-with-judith-berkson-and-jeremiah-lockwood/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Khazones Underground with Judith Berkson and Jeremiah Lockwood</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

It’s time for Part 2 of our conversation with singer, songwriter, actor, translator, bandleader and more, Daniel Kahn! We continue right where we left off and dive right in with talking about the very first Painted Bird song Dan Blacksberg recorded, Parasites. Then Dan & Dan get into their whole big history together, which is nearly … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/daniel-kahn-part-2/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Daniel Kahn – Part 2</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

It’s all Dans on Radiant Others this month! This month is part 1 of our conversation with one of our Yiddish World’s most wide-reaching artists, singer, songwriter, actor, and more, Daniel Kahn. Dan Kahn’s music, especially through his longtime band The Painted Bird, has reached a lot of people inside and outside the Yiddish scene. … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/daniel-kahn-part-1/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Daniel Kahn – Part 1</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Today on the podcast Dan is joined by the Magid Ensemble for a conversation with his largest group of guests yet! The Magid Ensemble – klezmer musicians and composers Rachel Leader, Mattias Kaufmann, Raffi Boden, Yiddishist and storyteller Weaver, and visual artist Kiah Raymond – has taken the scene by storm with their multimedia piece Shterna and … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/magid-ensemble/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Magid Ensemble</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Many listeners of this podcast will know our guest this month, Avia Moore from being an internationally renowned Yiddish dance leader and teacher, and from being a longtime faculty and current artistic director of Klezkanada. But did you know that she is a photographer and graphic designer who has made some of your favorite Klezkanada art and … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/avia-moore/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Avia Moore</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

On this month’s episode of Radiant Others, Dan sits down with actor, playwright, stage director, lyricist, and Yiddishist, Mikhl Yashinsky (מיכל יאַשינסקי). Mikhl shares his fantastic passion for all things Yiddish: the language, the poetry, the music, the history and more. We talk about the many connections to Yiddish from his personal history, his journey into the … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/mikhl-yashinsky/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Mikhl Yashinsky</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Today on the podcast, Seattle-based Brivele, the duo of Maia Brown and Stefanie Brendler! Brivele formed as a trio in 2017 and have recently become a duo. They are releasing their 3rd album, Khaverim Zayt Greyt, (Friends/Comrades, Get Ready) on May Day (May 1st), on Borscht Beat Records. Dan and the duo talk about the new … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/brivele/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Brivele</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

This month we are re-airing one of our favorite episodes, Dan’s 2018 conversation with Ethel Raim. Among numerous amazing accomplishments, Ethel is the most frequently name-dropped artist on this podcast in recent years. People keep bringing her up as a central mentor and source of inspiration, including in conversations we haven’t released yet! Listening back to the endless … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/re-air-ethel-raim/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Re-air: Ethel Raim</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

On today’s episode, Dan sits down with two musicians based in Vienna, Austria: Isabel Frey and Benjy Fox-Rosen. Both musicians are accomplished Yiddish singers, and thoughtful Yiddish scholars, among many other roles. The wide ranging conversation begins with a focus on Isabel’s new album Di fliendike pave (Borscht Beat), and expands outwards in many personal … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/isabel-frey-and-benny-fox-rosen/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Isabel Frey and Benjy Fox-Rosen</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Today on the podcast, flautist, composer, teacher, scholar, Adrianne Greenbaum. Adrianne has been at the forefront of bringing the rich tradition of klezmer flute playing into the present day. A stunning player, she leads successful lives as a symphony player (and a long time member of the New Haven Symphony), a teacher at Mount Holyoke … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/adrianne-greenbaum/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Adrianne Greenbaum</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

It’s our final Radiant Others episode for 2024 and it’s a big one. Today on the podcast is pianist, composer and awesome human Marilyn Lerner. Based in Toronto, Marilyn makes music across a really wide range of sounds and practices ranging from Yiddish music to jazz, and beyond. Dan and Marilyn go deep into the … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/marilyn-lerner/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Marilyn Lerner</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>

Just in time to aid in your digestion or your long drives home, we’re re-airing one of our earliest episodes with tsimbalist, cultural organizer, and cultural enabler Pete Rushefsky! Pete was the first person Dan interviewed way back in 2018, when life was oh-so-different. We get into the many nooks and crannies of Pete’s journey … <!-- more-link --><a href="https://radiant-others-a.blubrry.net/re-air-pete-rushefsky/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Re-air: Pete Rushefsky</span> <span class="meta-nav">→</span></a>