Photo by: Alexander Archer
I grew up in a home where my father was a Yiddish writer-producer, editor, and presenter. My mother was a Yiddish folk song musicologist. They worked passionately together to collect and publish thousands of soon-to-be forgotten Yiddish songs in several songbooks that informed the advent of the Klezmer music revival.
Partly joking, my brother Moish (Mark) and my sister-in-law Audrey came up with the term, “the family business” in reference to the work I do and the work they so generously support.
Remembering Yosl Mlotek, an excerpt of a film about my father from a short documentary by Sam Ball of Citizen Film, remembering the “address for Yiddish” Yosl Mlotek and the impact he and his wife and partner, Chana Mlotek, had on Yiddish and Jewish culture. click here
My cousin and long time collaborator on theatrical projects, Moishe Rosenfeld speaking about me for an interview with the National Yiddish Book Center. click here
Chana Mlotek and Zalmen Mlotek: “Vatch Your Step!” Chana and Zalmen Mlotek recount the discovery and adaptation of this Yiddish theater song, and give an impromptu performance. Interview by Neil W. Levin and Barry Serota. Milken Archive oral history excerpt. click here
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene mourns the passing of Chana Gordon Mlotek. click here
Tribute concert at the Toronto Ashkenaz Festival to my mother, Chana Mlotek, The Mlotek family pays musical tribute to their matriarch, Chana Mlotek (1922 – 2013), Yiddish folksong collector, archivist, researcher and anthologist – the “Sherlock Holmes of Yiddish song.” Featuring her grandchildren Avram, Elisha, Sara, and Marissa Mlotek, with special guests Kyra Folk-Farber, Faye Kellerstein, Lenka Lichtenberg, Sasha Lurje, Charles Osborne, Polina Shepherd, Mitch Smolkin, Theresa Tova, and David Wall and me at the piano. August 28, 2014, Temple Sinai, Toronto. Co-presented by Ashkenaz, UJA Committee For Yiddish, Toronto Workmen’s Circle, and United Jewish People’s Order. Sponsored by the Jerry and May Cohen Fund at the Jewish Foundation. click here
