Henry Sapoznik

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Henry "Hank" Sapoznik (b. 1953, Brooklyn, New York) is an award winning author, record and radio producer and performer of traditional Yiddish and American music. With MacArthur Fellow David Isay, he produced the critically acclaimed 10 week radio series the "Yiddish Radio Project" on the history of Jewish broadcasting for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered in the spring of 2002. The series won the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism for 2002.

A pioneering scholar and performer of klezmer music, Sapoznik founded the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and was its first director from 1982–1994. As an outgrowth of that work, in 1985 Sapoznik started "KlezKamp: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program", the world's most important training venue for practitioners of this nearly lost art and, in 1994, founded Living Traditions to administer it. His "Klezmer! Jewish Music from Old World to Our World" (ISBN 0-02-864574-X), the first book on the history of klezmer music, was the winner of the 2000 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Scholarship.

A four-time Grammy nominated performer/producer, Sapoznik has recorded and/or produced over 35 recordings of traditional Yiddish and American music. Nominated for a 2002 Emmy Award for his music score to the documentary film "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg," His 2005 3 CD anthology of legendary country music pioneer Charlie Poole for Sony Columbia Legacy was nominated for three Grammy awards (Best Historical Album, Best Album Notes, Best Box Design). In 2007 he co-produced the 3 CD reissue anthology "People Take Warning! Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs 1913-1938" with Christopher King and co-authored notes with Tom Waits for Tompkins Square records which was nominated for a 2008 Grammy award for Best Historical Album.

In addition to his work in klezmer music, (he studied old time music with old time master Tommy Jarrell Sapoznik is considered one of the world's leading players of 5 string banjo in both old time styles and turn of the century "classic" style.