Dan Carkner
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alte.klezmor.im
Dan Carkner
@alte.klezmor.im
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Klezmer music history researcher, library technician from Vancouver BC. Doing research into klezmer musician biographies, compositions & social organizations, Indonesian left-wing history, etc. History MA UBC 2019. Wikipedia editor. Social justice minded.
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alte.klezmor.im
this part is insane lol🤔
detail of an old yellowed musical score focusing on the title. Series No.1 Hatikva ORIENTAL TWO STEP Intro: Frailach
January 13, 2026 at 2:39 AM
alte.klezmor.im
WWI era set of klezmer tunes I got from the newly released WEVD collection at NYPL. They didn't even charge me for the digitization 🤓 drive.google.com/file/d/1d9C-...
part of page of yellowed sheet music called Frailach No.2, arranged by Emil Ascher
January 13, 2026 at 2:25 AM
alte.klezmor.im
another of my side quests from my PMBS research over the last few days are these two related Jewish musician families from Egypt who settled in NYC and joined the PMBS, the Halmescos/Halms and the Brauns. Here's the grave of one of them, William Halmesco, b.1890 Port Said, d.1952 Bronx, and some...
photo of a gravestone with a star of david and trumpet design on the top half. the text reads FATHER MY BELOVED FATHER WILLIAM HALMESCO DIED NOV 9 1952 AGE 65 YEARS IN LOVING MEMORY A page of handwritten sheet music. the title at the top says 1. Bulgar at the bottom it says Wm. Halmesco, Bronx NY, February 2 1945. there are 7 lines of densely written but tidy notes. photo of the cover of a music manuscript. info has been written in by hand: Clarinet in Bb No.2 Book Wm. Halmesco 630 East 136th Street Bronx NY
January 10, 2026 at 6:50 PM
alte.klezmor.im
a curious little side trip from my Progressive Musical Benevolent Soc. research last night: among the names inscribed on the cemetery gate of the Society in 1923 was M. WINAKOR. Not a common family name so I'm guessing it was the NYC cornetist Moses Winakor (1871-1940). here's his brother, Joseph...
detail of a handwritten form which has been filled in REGISTRATION CARD No. 165 Name in full: Joseph Winakor Age in yrs: 30 Home address: Uncasiville R. D. Conn Date of birth: April 21 1887 [citizenship]: Alien, First papers five yrs Where were you born? Proskuroff, Russia [citizenship]: Russia [present trade]: Musican [sic] and Farmer By whom employed: Farming for Myself where employed? Montville, Conn.
January 9, 2026 at 2:23 PM
alte.klezmor.im
Ishtar in sunnier times
Photo of a longhaired tortoiseshell cat sitting outdoors on a leash amongst some leaves and branches
January 8, 2026 at 9:45 PM
alte.klezmor.im
sadly also impossible to make much out about the musicans on stage. to be the klezmer musicians playing for all the New York klezmer families in 1941 they must have been good 🤓
detail of a black and white photo from a banquet, focusing on musicians sitting on the stage. behind them is an ornate mural. There are about 9 musicians visible although some maybe cropped on hte lefthand side. A violinist is standing and we can faintly see an accordionist, sax player, etc. seated.
January 8, 2026 at 6:27 PM
alte.klezmor.im
Thanks to Dave Levitt's relative Marcia Levitt Savage who was nice enough to send me a clearer image of the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society's 1941(?) 30th anniversary banquet photo in her possession when I messaged her on Facebook. this was the mutual aid society of NYC Klezmer musicians so..
Image of an old black and white banquet photo with people in suits and gowns. At the bottom is handwritten "30th anniversary banquet". There are about 100 people visible sitting at tables turned towards the camera. In the distance a band of musicians are on stage.
January 8, 2026 at 6:19 PM
alte.klezmor.im
sorry to add tourism into this but I was reminded how I saw Electrecord's office in Bucharest on google maps when I was there overnight in 2017. I went and peeked and there was just a big empty lobby inside with a piano and not a person in sight.
photo of a bearded guy in glasses and a sweater, with a purse, posing in front of a row of parked cars on an urban street, below a sign for Electrecord
January 7, 2026 at 4:27 PM
alte.klezmor.im
among all the blanks I found a few of what is probably Shimele Blank's klezmer band playing for the Bialer landsmanshaft (another one says S. Blank, and it's not a common name among musicians there, aside from his brother Morris

Bialer = Shimele was born here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%...
an old newspaper ad in Yiddish for the Reception and Ball of the Bialer Progressive Branch 402 Workmens Circle, taking plave 25 January 1919 at Beethoven Hall in NYC.
January 5, 2026 at 2:30 AM
alte.klezmor.im
In those 1940s tax photos they stopped to try and centre the shot on every single address so you can often get many views of the same spot angled and lit differently. This is roughly around the same spot as the Blanks' store on E 2nd St but also Evenchick's shop at 188 E 2nd and possibly another one
an old black and white photo of an urban NY street with tenements across the street and parked 1930s cars in the foreground. in the foreground a man is also kneeling holding up a sign with numbers on it. in one of the tenement buildings on the ground floor we can see a big MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS sign. an old black and white photo of an urban NY street with tenements across the street and parked 1930s cars and pedestrians walking in the foreground. in the foreground a man is also kneeling holding up a sign with numbers on it. there are shops and people sitting on sidewalk stools on the other side of the street
January 4, 2026 at 6:16 PM
alte.klezmor.im
"Filling in the Blanks" on my Progressive Musical Benevolent Society research about the Blanks/Blankleders family of musicians. There were about 10 of them in the P.M.B.S., most related to Shimele Blank AKA Yankel Blankleder, a klezmer violinist who owned this music shop at 190 East 2nd Street.
detail of an old black and white street photo, focusing on a storefront in a tenement building, S BLANK MUSIC BARGAIN STORE. you can see musical instruments in the store window. in the foreground are some very old 1930s cars and a sign with numbers on it. an old black and white street photo (a NY tax photo from 1940). in the foreground is a baby carriage. in the middle ground a man holding up a sign with a number on it, and several parked 1930s cars. and a man is picking up bricks on the sidewalk. across the street is a tenement building with a music store on the ground level. an advertisement in an old publication. DRydock 4-9561 Expert Repairing THE ORIGINAL “SHIMELE” BLANK "Bargain Music Store” Sells New and Second Hand Instruments Specialize in Saxophones and Clarinets Strings - Reeds Brass Instruments 190 EAST 2nd STREET Bet. Ave. A & B ~ "New York ORchard 4-7302
January 3, 2026 at 7:29 PM
alte.klezmor.im
I came across this yesterday but thought it was too stupid to post on NYE 😪 but some thoughtless New York registrar in 1895 really wrote Gusikoff as Gussecough. 😭(an illustrious Jewish musician family going back to Michał Józef Guzikow, 1806-37). you can see by the father's name they weren't sure..
an old New York state birth registration form filled in by hand. stamped 1895. It's for the birth of Solomon Gussecough [sic], son of Morris and Sarah.
January 2, 2026 at 4:45 AM
alte.klezmor.im
ah, to be a fly on the wall... or, in this case a fly on the exterior wall of the Hippodrome. found in a 1935 issue of the apparently short-lived Jewish Music Journal which seemed to mostly cater to Chazzans, art music intellectuals and choirs.
digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/a21b42...
part of a page in an old Yiddish print publication. at the top is the journal title Idishe Muzik and in large print above the photo, Der Gezang Farein. Their is a black and white photo of a crowd of hundreds posing outside a building in winter clothes. handwritten on the photo is FIRST MUSIC FESTIVAL, THE CHORUS OF UNITED HEBREW CHORAL SOCIETIES OF UNITED STATES AND CANADA. underneath the photo is a paragraph listing some of the notables who attended the event. link to full journal text available in post above.
January 1, 2026 at 9:12 PM
alte.klezmor.im
Happy New Year from me and Najma. Although I did some good stuff I'm proud of, I'll be happy to see the end of this one. 🥂
A blurry selfie taken by a bearded guy wearing a winter coat, there is a black and white cat leaning into the foreground of the photo looking smug
January 1, 2026 at 12:36 AM
alte.klezmor.im
this guy Max Bergunker (1885–1969, b.Mykolaiv) was in the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society (the klezmer mutual aid society I'm researching) & got big into silent film composing. found some of his 1920s mood-based pieces here at the end of this set.🕵️
www.sfsma.org/wp-content/u...
part of a page of a musical scorebook cover titled SCHIRMER'S PHOTOPLAY SERIES with six volumes of contents listed of music for motion pictures. A variety of composers are listed with about 10 pieces in each volume. part of a musical score titled Diabolical Allegro, by M. Bergunker, arranged by William Strasser. We can see piano parts and a lead melody for two lines of this piece.
December 28, 2025 at 2:29 PM
alte.klezmor.im
Fleischman was a bit of an odd case in that he was a NY klezmer who was born in Toronto (in 1908). He also played in the 2nd Ave theatre and plenty of other stuff. Here's an ad for his orchestra from 1949 I saw at YIVO, though I don't think his family was from Khotyn, his dad was born in Vilna gub.
an old ad from a publication. we can see at the top the words CHOTINER RELIEF. MANNY FLEISCHMAN For the finest in music and entertainment such Dances - Shows - Weddings - Bar-Mitzvahs, Manny Fleishman and his Famous Orchestra are known to make such occasions a memorable one. Room 303 New York City 1564 BROADWAY on the left side of the ad is a black and white portrait of a man with a moustache wearing a suit.
December 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
alte.klezmor.im
on the classic hyper confident celebrity cantor I was reminded of this satirical cantor's lines from B. Kovner's Freylekhe Minuten (1919).

"My neck — a fiddle
my throat — a cimbalom
and I myself am a whole orchestra
When I pray, people fall like flies"

🥺
detail of a page of a book in yiddish, four lines and a bit of text. translated in the post and the original yiddish text with OCR is linked
December 22, 2025 at 5:16 PM
alte.klezmor.im
Love this kind of weird presentation 😂 he was talking about what faux Hebrew fonts signify when used in advertising (often unclear) and what letters are used
Photo of a computer screen with an arrangement of faux Hebrew characters arranged by which English letter they correspond to
December 21, 2025 at 4:45 PM
alte.klezmor.im
My first Yiddish New York lecture getting started and kitty is already interfering
Photo of a cat pawing at a computer screen. On the screen we can see some words on the screen FONTS and FUNCTION and some clipart
December 21, 2025 at 4:35 PM
alte.klezmor.im
I've mentioned him before but this non-Jewish bandleader born in NYC, John Ellis, went on a tear of acting as a reference for nat'l applications for Jewish musicians c.1920🤓 I still don't know what his connection is to them, like was just "oh if you need an American reference this guy'll do it"?
screenshot showing part of a digitized handwritten form on the left and data from a database program on the right. in the handwritten form we can see some names have been written in as references for Jacob Fidelman: Sam Silber, and John Ellis. in the database on the right ew can see that entries have been made for John Ellis 7 times where he gave a reference on a naturalization petition for various individuals.
December 21, 2025 at 4:29 PM
alte.klezmor.im
Somehow Reddit thought I suddenly wanted to see a steady stream of suggested posts from one of the most brainless know-nothing tryhards in the country.😐
Screenshot of a subreddit in mobile view. There is a dialogue box asking: Mute r/JJMcCulloughOfficial? You won’t see posts from r/JJMcCulloughOfficial in your feeds or recommendations anymore.
December 21, 2025 at 1:16 AM
alte.klezmor.im
and he died in 1956, not in 1963. I should have known because I had this notice from Der Tog in my files back from when I started this project. both he and his wife Freda died within a few months of one another.😢 buried in the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society plot & noted in the map at YIVO.
a newspaper notice in Yiddish about the opening of the graves of Avram and Freyda Rapfogel in Beth Israel cemetery.
December 20, 2025 at 10:47 PM
alte.klezmor.im
someone forgot to log into their personal account maybe, heh👀
screenshot of a facebook post from In Geveb sharing the article from the previous post. one facebook profile has Angry-reacted to it, the official page of the World Jewish Congress
December 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
alte.klezmor.im
I was mixing Abraham up with another guy of the same name who emigrated from Galicia to NYC and lived over roughly the same timeframe. pretty much everything is OK except the birth and death dates/places. but on the topic of old timey transliteration I love his sister in law Bertha as "Beitha"
detail of handwritten entries in a form. the lines are N. Y. City Ben Beitha Steinmotz First
December 20, 2025 at 5:27 PM
alte.klezmor.im
ah, sometimes I go and search music copyrights for the members of the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society to see if anything interesting comes up and here's 2 klezmer copyright scores in the Library of Congress that I missed in my master list 2 years ago.🕵️
detail of copyright entries in an old printed ledger; the focus is on Over the ceremony, by Abraham Rapfogel of New York, Nov 28 1923. detail of copyright entries in an old printed ledger; the focus is on Romanian Dance, by Abraham Rapfogel of New York, Nov 28 1923.
December 20, 2025 at 4:59 AM