SUSAN WATTS
Energizes Klezmer Music
Ellen Braunstein
S USAN WATTS comes from a long line of perform-
ers of the Jewish genre of klezmer music: The
klezmer dynasty dates to 19th century Ukraine
and begins with Watts’ great-grandfather, the musician,
composer, cornet player and poet Joseph Hoff man.

Watts is a trumpeter, composer, singer and arranger.

Her repertoire is fi lled with her family’s music created by
her great-grandfather and also her grandfather, Jacob
Hoff man. The latter left Podolia, Ukraine, in 1905 and
settled in West Philadelphia, bringing his music with
him. That’s where his daughter Elaine was born and
where she fi rst learned how to play the drums.

Being a fourth-generation klezmer musician is
something that no other contemporary klezmer player
can claim, Watts said. Carrying the mantle of klezmer,
keeping it at the forefront of the Jewish cultural experi-
ence and keeping it full of life brings her satisfaction,
she said.

“It gives me a sense of existential peace to know that I
am the result of generations before me and that I have a
mantle to carry and that I have a responsibility to speak
for them,” said Watts, who has added her compositions
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to the family canon.

Watts and her family, most notably her
mother, have been featured in several
televised documentaries. Before she died
in 2017, Elaine Hoff man Watts was a klezmer
drummer in the Philadelphia-based group,
The Fabulous Shpielkehs. Watts often
performed with her mother on stage. The
fi lm “Eatala: A Life in Klezmer” shares the
Ukrainian-Jewish klezmer sounds of mother
and daughter.

“When I was a little girl, you couldn’t get
out of my house without being a musician in
some way, shape or form,” Watts said. “My
mother was a musician, and her whole life
was dedicated and devoted to music and
raising a musician.” Watts has two musically
inclined siblings.

On June 4, Watts launches “The Hoff man
Book,” a collection of her great-grandfa-
ther’s music. Some are originals, and some
are common tunes of the day.

“He wrote this book in 1927 for his children
who were musicians,” Watts says.

On a Zoom call, players from all over
the world will perform a selection from the
book, she said.

Watts, 56, of Ardmore, has had plenty of
musical opportunities in the past several
years, from performing at concerts with noted
klezmer musicians from around the world to
receiving grants and awards from the Pew
Foundation and the Leeway Foundation.

She also was awarded a National Heritage
Fellowship from the National Endowment
for the Arts and two Leeway Foundation
Grants. She produced “Soul Songs: Inspiring
Women of Klezmer.” The project brings
together 12 of the top Klezmer instrumen-
talists in North America to perform new and
modern klezmer compositions all penned
by women.

Watts began an organization called the
Community Klezmer Initiative that off ers
cultural programs. “We’ve had really
awesome programming — jams, dances, a
Yiddish cabaret — really nice get-togethers
around Yiddish culture and music. We want
people to laugh and have fun and learn and
enjoy themselves and other people.”
First and foremost, “klezmer is great
music,” Watts said. “It connects to our yichus
(Yiddish for lineage). We feel a connection
to the people that have come before us. It’s
a connector and an enlivener.”
She is a trumpet player, and what she
loves about the instrument is its spirituality.

“It happened the fi rst time I picked it up.

I was 8 years old. My father played the
trumpet in high school and he kept his
trumpet in the closet. When I was a little
Susan Watts
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