Steve Piskor 1st interview

Partial Transcript: My name is Steve Piskor and I am the author Gypsy Violins Hungarian-Slovak Gypsies in America.

Keywords: author; gypsy; gypsy violin; hungarian; introduction; steve piskor; violin

Subjects: Piskor, Steve; Violin

Partial Transcript: Elia: My name is Elia Tzoukermann and I would love to know what kind of role music played in your childhood.
Steve: In my house we had music playing just about everyday and so my father was a musician and everybody in my family was a musician. My brother was a musician. So I was constantly practicing and playing, listening to music. A sunday was like a day for, it was the same day for every gypsy that was from Cleveland or from Chicago or Detroit. Sunday mornings, you would get up in the morning, your mother would be cooking stuffed cabbage and chicken and potato salad and chicken soup and your father would be the hungarian waiter and he would be listening to the hungarian gypsy music and then start practicing and then at some point in the morning they'd go to church. Not everybody was (pause), not everyone went to church. and that was basically the sunday for everybody that was in this book and everybody did the same thing. That goes back for i don't know how long.
[00:02:56]
Peri: Hi I'm Peri Levin, I was wondering, could you talk a little bit about your parents and their experiences growing up and how that may have informed your childhood. Like were they always in the midwest? Like where your parents are from and that kind of thing.
[00:03:16]
Piskor: My mother was born in Cleveland Ohio and her mother was born in Cleveland Ohio too. My father was born in Pittsburgh, but his mother was actually born in Cleveland. But my father and mother met in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, if you know where Kennywood park is out in Pittsburgh, it's right across the road from Kennywood park, it's called a small town called Braddock Pennsylvania. And at that time, Braddock Pennsylvania had the largest settlement of hungarian-slovak gypsies in the country, in the United States. History books reflect that too. What they did, was in the early days they actually bought all the houses and it was sorta forming a square which they referred to at the yard because in the middle was a big yard for all the kids to play in. But I mean they met there and eventually my mother didn't like staying in Pittsburgh while all of her family was in Cleveland and she didn't like my father working in the steel mills so they moved back to Cleveland and he started playing music with one of my mother's relatives. But they weren't playing gypsy, music they were playing latin music. So he played Latin music for about 30 years with the slam band. They became a really famous band in Cleveland. After that, he came back to playing gypsy music and starting playing with the Hungarian band here in Cleveland. He passed away in 1986. My mother and father they weren't anything different or out of the ordinary. My father was strict. You know, you had to go to school. He was also strict about being a musician. He pushed us to be musicians. I went for lessons and playing in town when I was only about 10 years old. That usually about how old they start them. My brother was starting earlier than that. He actually had a band here in the Cleveland area, in this area too. And they played for a good 30 years. They would get selected to play at the Holiday Inn. It was a big circle. And they would tour and travel around to all the big derbies. For them at that time it was really good and because they were getting good money compared to just playing in a local bar. I mean they were playing in one of biggest places that was out at that time for people to go to. Yeah my mother and father were nothing different. My mother and father, they had a relationship that was kind of strange. My mother would go to work in the morning around 6 o'clock in the morning and she worked in a hospital and she would get back at home before we got out of school. So by about 2 o'clock she was done working and she was home. Now my father went to play at about 6o'clock in the evening and he played until 2 o'clock in the morning. She he would get us up for school at and that’s probably why he pushed us to go to school because he didn't want us home. He says he sent us to school and it kind of worked out that way and he worked good for them. I mean, I don't know anything different. I mean I grew up in a projects, on west 25th street and at that time when I grew up it was really mixed. I mean it wasn't just, I mean eventually it became all black but it was just all black when it just opened up, it was really mixed. It was every race was in it. It was a big project. There was a hundred of us kids playing in this big open field and it was all the way from bridge avenue and the way to frankland avenue. So we got to know a lot, all the people there. I mean we grew up with them, went to school with them. And like they I said, there weren’t much different from us either.
[00:08:00]

Keywords: affordable housing; affordable housing projects; childhood; cleveland gypsies; culture; family; father; gypsy; mother; muisc; parents; projects; religion; school; tradition; upbringing

Subjects: International Folk Music Council. Romanian National Committee; Romanies--Music

Partial Transcript: That was basically the Sunday for everybody that was in this book and everybody did the same thing. That goes back for I don’t know how long. It's an old tradition.

Segment Synopsis: Piskor talks about his childhood and the strong Hungarian gypsies traditions that he grew up living. Piskor has an undertone of nostalgia as he talks about his traditions and how his culture. It is very apparent how important gypsy music is to him. Growing up in the projects in Cleveland he describes the change that took place from a more diverse group of people to majority African American people living in his neighborhood.

Keywords: childhood; expressive culture; gypsy; muscians; sunday traditions; traditions

Subjects: Childhood; Culture

Partial Transcript: My mother and father they weren't anything different or out of the ordinary. My father was strict. You know, you had to go to school. He was also strict about being a musician. He pushed us to be musicians. I went for lessons and playing in town when I was only about 10 years old. That usually about how old they start them. My brother was starting earlier than that

Segment Synopsis: Piskor describes how ordinary his parents are for him. Piskor describes how hard his parent’s works. His mom would worked long nursing shifts and dad working two jobs. He also expresses how dedicated his father is to music and how his father pushed him and his siblings to start music young. He also talks about always being interested in his ancestry; in large part because of how important his culture is to him that he feels is being lost in the younger generation especially in the United States.

Keywords: assimilation; culture; family pressures; home life; ordinary; parent sacrifices; parents; school; siblings; work

Subjects: Culture; Project "The Assimilation of New Media in the Instructional Program of a Rural School"

Partial Transcript: When I did research I did it on everybody, not just my family.... going further back into Europe it gets more complicated but you have more grandparents.

Segment Synopsis: He talks about how everyone is related each other nice you get deep enough into ancestry and geological research Talking about arranged "back then, they married strictly into each other. Back in the olden days, there were put together marriages. But that didn't work my generation and before me, they were like 10 years older and that didn't work for them growing up because they didn't stand for that, wanted who they picked out and wouldn't let anyone pick.... my grandparents...had fixed, put together marriages and a lot of them were related somehow.... you can't keep intermarriage going without somehow being related to each other." Piskor talks about marriage as one of the reasons he feels his culture is being lost. All marriages used to be within the culture but since arranged marriages have become outdated in the United States, many people in his culture marry outsiders who then dilutes the culture and traditions are lost. Piskor has a nostalgic tone to how he talks about the olden days when his culture was more celebrated and more closely bound. The saddest part for Piskor seems to be the loss of traditional gypsy musicians.

Keywords: ancestry; culture; europe; family; family lineage; family relations; genealogical reserach; genealogy; lineage; relatives; research

Subjects: Culture; Genealogy

Partial Transcript: Today it's different, the young kids they don't even want it, they don't even want to keep the language, they don't want nothing to do with it. And right now it’s totally lost... The band that is coming (to Oberlin)...are the last 4 musicians.

Segment Synopsis: Piskor explains how the younger generation has been "Americanized" and thus want nothing to do with they gypsy roots. As results, the traditional gypsy music, language and culture is being lost. The kids still are very talented musicians because that is in their blood but they are more likely to play jazz or other music that is not Hungarian gypsy. Piskor expresses how George Batyi's band is the last traditional band that. He says that they are getting old and have no one to pass it down to, thus a big part of his culture is going to be completely lost. Piskor has a sad and cynical perspective of the projection of his culture. He talks about how this is a global issue with the younger generation. In Hungary and other countries with Gypsies, they are experiencing the same issues as in the US. His concluding note on this section is that everything is always changing for better or worse and sometimes parts are lost along the way.

Keywords: Budapest; cultural assimilation; cultural lost; generational changes; inner marriage; language; loss of tradition; marriage; resistance to change; white washing; younger generation

Subjects: Romanies; Romanies -- United States -- Social Life and Customs

Partial Transcript: I was determined to graduate high school at least graduate high school. and I did and I coulda went to college I even refused a scholarship because when I finished high school I said Im done with school I didn't want to go back to school no more you know so I actually as soon as I got out of school I went to work and I was still fooling with music playing... people that were my age playing music... I was making more than they were making ... I couldn't balance that out in my head.

Segment Synopsis: Piskor goes into more detail about his own life choices and why he made them. He explains that having a career in in his youth made more sense than dedicating his life to music since his job would give him benefits, more money, and a more stable existence. He mentions that his father balanced working by day and playing by night. He would get six hours of sleep every night. His mother was a stay at home mother when the kids were young and then went back to work once school started. So Piskor’s family worked hard to keep music in their lives but it was not achievable to have that be sole source of income in the house. He says there was no pressure from anyone to follow a certain path in his life. As opposed to “back in the days” when one was expected to play hungarian music full time. An example of this that he brought up was the band, Gypsy Strings, coming to play that week. To Piskor, these men are the last who can properly play authentic hungarian folk music.

Keywords: art; career; cultural pressure; full time musicians; job sacrifices; men in music; music; musicians; outside pressure; side jobs; work

Subjects: Career advantage. Section 2, Career and educational exploration; Musicians

Partial Transcript: My brothers and sister tell that you know that I’m too stuck into this... and I have been that way all my life. I was only... 15 16 yrs old and going into bars to listen to them play. Now they wouldn't let me drink at a bar they wouldn’t even usually let me in. But when my uncle or somebody was playing in a band they told me no no no, no worries it’s okay just let him sit over here. And I’d go sit next them by the stage, you know, and order a pop or something… I sit there for a couple hours… up until today I still do it.

Segment Synopsis: Piskor explains where his love of music stems from and how in love with traditional bands he was, even as a child. He contrasts this with his brother “the musical brother”. He comments on how he never plays gypsy music. Its all modern and americanized now. Even his father played non-traditional music. But when he came home he listened to hungarian folk music. Piskor’s two other brothers chose to get non-musical jobs. One brother has one year till retirement. The other was an electrician.

Keywords: brothers; change; culturing mixing; family; gypsy music; modern era; popular music; purist; siblings; traditionalist

Subjects: Culture; Family Roots (Family History Society of Eastbourne and District)

Partial Transcript: Today the young kids don’t know anything about their heritage their culture. They don't know the language. If I speak to them them in gypsy they have no clue what I’m saying. If I ask them, you know, I ll ask them, you know, where did your grandfather come from and they say Chicago or something like that. And I'll say no he didn't come from Chicago he came from Slovakia. And they just don't care is their feeling on it.

Segment Synopsis: Piskor explains the lack of interest that the new generation of Gypsies in the area have for their culture. He says there is more interest shown by the younger generation in hip hop and rock. A certain example brought up was the Elvis impersonator who gained some fame for his seamless imitation of the famous rock and roll star. The children of the next generation will say that they are half. For instance, Piskor grew up in a mixed neighborhood with mostly Gypsy and Puerto Rican residents. He says that inter marriages often resulted in families that followed more non-gypsy traditions and tended to take after the other parent. He does not know why this was the case but he did observe this in his community. Piskor does say that the talent will never go away and that there still is a strong element of musical ability in the new generation. But the traditional ways of performance and musical tradition is dying out.

Keywords: Elvis Presley; cultural knowledge; funerals; generational differences; heritage; jazz music; loss of culture; loss of gypsy music; loss of knowledge; music; symbolism; talent

Subjects: Music--; Presley, Elvis, 1935-1977. Elvis Presley collection

Partial Transcript: I never expected this book to go anywhere

Segment Synopsis: Piskor talks about why he wrote his book “ Gypsy Strings”. He says it was mostly for his family and was quite surprised to find so many people interested in his story. Even the process of writing the book was quite informal as would be expected for a first book.

Keywords: academic validation; authur; book; gypsy violins; publication; unexpected success; writing process

Subjects: Book; Violin

Partial Transcript: My great grandfather was talking about his grandfather being a musician back in Europe. I mean so you’re talking about 6 generations I mean that could easily go back to the 1500s... so we know we it goes back several hundred years of musicians

Segment Synopsis: Piskor briefly talks about how far back the musical lineage of the Gypsies go and just how influential their music was. He recounts that the great austrian composer Mozart took inspiration from gypsy music and the composers’ names that he worked with are still recognizable to this day by Gypsies in the community. This history does not make him more hopeful about the present day situation with the newest generation of children.

Keywords: ancestry; cultural roots; family; lineage; roots; tradition

Subjects: Culture; Tradition