arts & life
mu s i c
The
Beat
Goes On
Saul Dreier, left, and Ruby Sosnowicz
Esther Allweiss Ingber | Contributing Writer
A pair of Holocaust
survivors makes high-
energy music — and
they’re heading to
Metro Detroit.
T
wo Florida musicians
are riding a heady wave
of joy — despite having
experienced tremendous trag-
edy — as the much-in-demand
Holocaust Survivor Band.
Drummer Saul Dreier, 91,
of Coconut Creek and Reuwen
(Ruby) Sosnowicz, 88, of Delray
The Holocaust Survivor Band performs.
details
The Holocaust Survivor Band and
Lipa Schmeltzer are performing
at the 42nd annual dinner of Sara
& Morris Tugman Bais Chabad
Torah Center of West Bloomfield
at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at
the West Bloomfield JCC. The
event will honor Neil and Tansy
Craft, the synagogue’s president
and secretary, respectively, while
commemorating eight late
Holocaust survivors who were
among the center’s founders/
supporters. A strolling dinner is
included for $300 per couple, or
attend the concert only at 7:45 for
$50-$75 per ticket. (248) 980-7012;
baischabad.com.
38 May 12 • 2016
Beach, accordionist and key-
board player, will entertain at the
annual dinner of Sara & Morris
Tugman Bais Chabad Torah
Center. Held May 26 at the West
Bloomfield JCC, the event will
reunite the band with popular
Chasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer.
Schmeltzer made two popular
music videos with the band last
year. For “Belz,” Lipa “comes to
life” as Dreier from an old family
photograph. In their second col-
laboration, Schmeltzer is a waiter
drafted into singing “Shain Vi Di
Levone” with the band when the
scheduled vocalist is a no-show.
“When we play, we’re excited,”
says Dreier, whose bright
smile and good nature light
up the videos. He had the idea
to start a band two years ago,
after reading the death notice
for Alice Herz-Sommer. The
110-year-old woman survived
the Holocaust by playing piano
in the Theresienstadt “model”
German concentration camp in
Czechoslovakia. Something about
using music to stay alive appealed
to Dreier, a native of Krakow,
Poland. He was imprisoned at
the nearby Plaszow German
concentration camp and also
Mauthausen and a Linz sub-camp
in Austria.
One of Dreier’s better memo-
ries came from sharing quarters
with “a famous cantor.”
“We were laying on our bed
and he would start to sing,”
Dreier says. “I took a spoon and
beat it like a drum. We had noth-
ing to eat. But when we heard
music, it made us feel alive.”
Dreier learned to play
the drums after the war at a
Displaced Persons Camp in Italy.
In America, he co-owned a con-
struction business. He and his
wife, Clara, another Holocaust
survivor, raised four children
in Elizabeth, N.J., and they now
have six grandchildren.
When Dreier proposed the
band, Clara and their rabbi were
not encouraging. Undaunted, a
contact led him to Sosnowicz.
They bonded over singing songs
remembered from the shtetl.
The full-time caregiver for
his Israeli-born wife, Gina, since
having a stroke, Sosnowicz says,
“Playing in this band has made
me happier than I’ve been in
years.”
He was born into a large,
musical family confined to the
Warsaw Ghetto during the war. A
sympathetic farmer later hid him
in his barn.
Living in New York, Sosnowicz
was a hairdresser, photographer
and professional musician giving
accordion lessons. A daughter,
Chanarose, lives with her father
while another daughter is mar-
ried with three children.
The Holocaust Survivor Band
started by renting the South
Florida Events Center for a free
concert. Accompanying them
sometimes are Jeff Black, a
rhythm guitar player who lost
family in the Shoah, and Mark
Horowitz, a second-generation
saxophone player. Chanarose
Sosnowicz may sing and intro-
duce numbers for the band.
Playing local synagogues, flea
markets and retirement homes,
the band members attracted a
following.
“We help them remember the
songs they knew as children,”
said Dreier. “Ruby and I can play
everything — whatever they want
to hear.”
The band’s repertoire includes
klezmer music; chasidic niggunim
(religious melodies); Yiddish,
Hebrew, Polish and Russian
songs; and big band, tango and
rumba numbers.
“We’re a hot commodity,”
Dreier says happily, as the band
picks up steam with bookings
and media coverage.
The Venetian Resort Hotel
Casino in Las Vegas hired the
band to share the bill Dec. 13
with renowned singer Dudu
Fisher. Another highlight was
playing Dec. 29 at Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C.
Joshua Z. Weinstein of the New
York Times took first place in the
Picture of the Year International
Competition for his Multimedia
Feature Story on the Holocaust
Survivor Band, posted March 3,
2015.
The bandmates, as close as
brothers, shared the personal
tragedy of losing their wives this
winter. Clara Dreier died on Feb.
16, and Gina Sosnowicz on Feb.
24.
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg
of Bais Chabad Center said the
concert performers are boosting
interest in the dinner.
“We found out about the
Holocaust Survivor Band on
social media,” he said. “They’ve
gone through a lot but still have
enthusiasm and energy for life.”
Schmeltzer, called the Chasidic
Elvis, gives performances
described as “hard-driving rock
tunes, jazzy shuffles, pseudo-
rap numbers, solemn prayers,
klezmer dances and jokey skits.”
The Holocaust Survivor Band
seeks sponsors to perform in
Poland and Israel this summer.
For Dreier, coming out of retire-
ment to play their music —
“that’s what keep you alive.”
*