Hankus Netsky singing at a recent concert. (Courtesy of Hankus Netsky)
Hankus Netsky has played in venues large and small around the world, but he vividly remembers the first time he played at Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park. It was sometime in the 1980s, and it was a rainy night.
“It was pouring buckets, and I remember saying to the audience that I felt like we were the house band on Noah’s Ark,” Netsky joked, referencing the unique and legendary roof at the synagogue that propelled the sound of the rain that night.
That concert was a memorable one, and Netsky is hoping that the next one he plays at Beth Sholom is special, too. On March 29, Netsky and the Philadelphia Klezmer All Star Band, Cantor Jacob Agar and others will play a concert at Beth Sholom that will be special for concertgoers who love klezmer, but also for Netsky, who hails from Philadelphia. He said that his hometown has a proud history when it comes to Jewish music.
“It’s so woven into the history of the city, in terms of the way that the Jewish community in Philadelphia was particularly ethnic and particularly connected to where they came from, and how they kept that connection through, well, food and music, I would say,” Netsky said.
While there was a time klezmer music experienced a decline in much of the United States, Netsky said the trend wasn’t the same in Philly.
“One of the things we do when we go to Philadelphia is we honor the musicians who kept that going. For most of the country, there was a time when the ethnic Jewish music died out and then came back in a resurgence. And in Philadelphia it didn’t really die out to the extent it did it everywhere else,” he said.
The concert will feature a mix of Philadelphia and Boston-based musicians with a program that has cantorial, Ladino and chazzanut tunes. Netsky said that the concert will be topical, ending with Cantor Moishe Oysher’s version of Chad Gadya, just in time for Passover. While the band will likely see some familiar faces in the crowd, Netsky said that there is always a chance that new fans come, too, considering klezmer’s surging popularity.
“Eastern European, Jewish ethnic music and culture has really become something that younger musicians and the younger generation is very interested in these days, and Philadelphia is one of the most important places, because it just gathered people from so many different towns and villages — they came together in Philadelphia and then created what became the Philadelphia tradition,” he said.
Netsky loves playing in big venues like Symphony Hall in Boston or the Winspear Opera House in Dallas largely because it gives him and his band a chance to introduce klezmer music to a new crowd.
“In many cases, the audience has never heard the music at all. Some people go in there having no idea that they’re going to hear Jewish music, and then when they do, it feels like we’re inviting them into a Jewish wedding, basically,” Netsky said.
He said it’s wonderful to see the crowds get up from their seats and dance, even when it defies the rules of the venue. Netsky and the All Stars joked that one of their recent shows was the “Bad Bubbe Halftime Show” because of how raucous it was, referencing this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Sure, those concerts are fun, but for Netsky, there’s something even more special about playing at a synagogue in the city he’s from. And in late March, he’ll relish the chance to do it again.
“It’s connecting to my friends, my parents, the people my parents grew up with, my grandparents, my own high school friends,” he said. “It’s a hometown crowd, and you don’t know who is going to turn out.”