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Guitarist from Pueblo finds
roots as an artist in Israel
He gut his name, Miguel, from
classmates In his hometown of
•Pueblo who demoted him to the
Chicano (Mexican-American)
crowd when they heard that
Jews weren’t Christians.
All of the Chicanos lived on
the other side of town, too far for
frequent visits; Miguel (Victor)
Herstein spent almost every
afternoon of high school “pluck
ing away” on a cheap pawn shop
guitar his father once brought
home on a whim.
There was no guitar teacher in
Pueblo, so Miguel patiently
lifted tunes from records and
dissected them until he knew
what music was all about
What professional training
Miguel did have (about six
lessons) came from Carlos Mon
toya, the internationally famous
flamenco guitarist, who once
performed in Pueblo and not
only gave his teenage fan a free
demonstration, but also en
couraged Miguel to come
backstage for more every time
he played in the area.
At the University of Colorado,
where he should have majored in
music but still didn’t know that
he was any better than hundreds
of other amateur Bob Dylans,
Miguel tried pre-med and blew
up the organic chemistry lab.
Eventually he graduated with a
degree in 19th century com
parative literature.
All in all, a very unorthodox
beginning for the soft-spoken,
low-key 30-year-old guitarist
who immigrated to Israel in Oc
tober 1976. Yet since Miguel’s
arrival, his phone hasn’t stopped
ringing; within his first two
months in the country he had
performed on radio, appeared on
television, written for and also
backed an Israeli-made
documentary, and become part
of a popular Israel singer’s new
three man show. In fact, moet
Israelis in the entertainment
field agree that Miguel Hernstein
is wellon his way to becoming a
“big name" locally.
“I came here purely by acci
dent the first time,” reminisces
Miguel, ‘‘the moment I
graduated university. There was
no Zionism or religious comitt-
ment involved, just a girl who
‘preceded’ me to Europe and fell
in love with an Israeli. I took all
my money out of the bank and
bought a one-way ticket to Tel
Aviv, determined to sweep her
off her feet. Instead, I ended up
with a wedding invitation and no
money to get home, holed up in a
dumpy hotel near Tel Aviv and
“Miguel” Hernstein.
existing oh bread and boullion
cubes which I made into soup
with hot tap water.
“I had put myself through
college as part of a blue grass
group, so guitar in hand, I
started knocking on doors. My
first job, at twelve dollars a
week; was playing in the variety
show of a luxury hotel every Fri
day evening. Twelve dollars a
week was what I needed to live
on. Desperate, I took another job
at a rather seedy nightclub. Ever
try to tune your guitar while a
stripper puts on her pasties?
Well, I guess every musician has
to pay his dues, and those were
mine.
Miguel — it was Israelis who
insisted he use his un-Israeli
nickname professionally —
acted on educational television,
backed records for top Israeli
vocalists, and toured with a jazs
dance group. Steady work, six
nights a week for a solid year,
and the type of experience every
would-be professional needs,
came from an Israeli production
of Garcia Lorca’s “Blood Wed
ding.”
When the show ended, Miguel
headed for New York with his
Israeli bride. “I had a good case
of rock fever” he explains, "I was
starting to feel confined.”
In New York competition was
rough, reviews written in
Hebrew carried no weight, and
Miguel and his wife, Hadi,
almost starved on their com
bined incomes of 45 dollars a
week. If Hadi hadn’t been enroll
ed in CCNY’s Graduate School of
Social Work, the couple probably
would not have stuck it out long
enought for Miguel to be spotted
by CMA (Creative Management
Artists, one of New York’s major
booking companies) who arrang
ed a stint at the Plaza Hotel
playing flamenco music.
After almost seven years of
saying, “next year in Israel,” and
armed with a two inch high
stack of rave reviews, Miguel,
Hadi and their young son finally
arrived in Tel Aviv for good, “to
pick up where I left off.” Since
then it’s been one lucky break
after another.”
“There just aren’t that many
good guitarists in Israel,”
believes Miguel who plays
flamenco, classical, jazz, rock,
and folk music with equal ver
satility.
“You know, when I.left the
United States I was just at the
point where I could have made it
really big there. Everyone
thought I was crazy to come to a
small country with its limited
possibilities. I disagreed, I’d had
a slice of the show biz life and I
knew I could always go back to
the States for concerts, but I
wanted my roots to be here."
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Page 19 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE April 29, 1<