Chaim-Meir Gegner

Chaim-Meir Gegner or Gegna (Yiddish: חײם מאיר געגנער, c. 1860–1916) was a Russian Jewish violinist, klezmer bandleader and composer from Bila Tserkva.

He was one of the celebrity Jewish violinist-composer-bandleaders of 19th century Ukraine, which included such figures as Pedotser, Stempenyu and Alter Chudnover.

[1] Gegner was born in around 1860 in Bila Tserkva, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (now located in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine).

He was born into a family of Jewish klezmer musicians; his father was called Nachum Gegner (1820–1890) and his grandfather Moshko.

The ethnomusicologist Moisei Beregovsky, writing during the Soviet period, mentioned Gegner as one of the "Jewish professional musicians" who "became famous as exceptional performers, some even for their many compositions.