David Krakauer: Culture as Resilience
American clarinetist David Krakauer was a guest at the 2025 Jewish Cultural Festival. With a career that ranges from klezmer to classical and jazz, he highlighted music's role as an open door, a meeting place, and a protection against barbarism.
photo and text: Martin Farstad Borg
An open house
Krakauer describes his music as a place where people can meet, across genres and backgrounds. He sees festivals like JKFest as an extension of this – arenas where cultures meet and people get the opportunity to experience each other's stories.
Music as dialogue
"My music is an open house, an open door. Come in, hang out, have fun. Let's party.”
For Krakauer, the mix of different genres is more than just aesthetics – it is a way to promote dialogue, sharing, and a sense of common humanity.
Between civilization and barbarism
"If we take away the arts and we take away cultural dialogue, we have barbarism. We don't have a civilization. That is the real danger. But I have hope in humanity.”
He emphasizes that art and music are not just entertainment, but a necessary force for preserving civilization.
Interaction across borders
Krakauer told of meetings with musicians from all over the world – including Palestinian, Syrian and Italian colleagues.
"Without waving a flag, without making a big political statement, you can say: come together with the 'other' and just be humans together."
Drip in the bucket
Although he believes that music's social impact today is more limited than during the protest movements of the 1960s, he is aware that it still has significance.
"We have to keep putting our little drops in the bucket. We have to do it. Otherwise what's left?»
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