Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.274 April 4, 1997 1) What song is this? (Rick Turkel) 2) What song is this? (Holger Nath) 3) What song is this? (Bob Poe) 4) What song is this? (Velvl Golman) 5) What song is this? (Mikhl Herzog) 6) What song is this? (Arre Komar) 7) Did Sholem Aleichem play the violin? (Chana Mlotek) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 14:13:37 -0500 From: rturkel@cas.org Subject: What song is this? Marvin Engel inquired in 6.271 about a song containing the word "zagranitshne." The word comes from the Russian "zagranichnyi" meaning "foreign(-made)," from "za granitsei" meaning "abroad." Hope this helps. Rick Turkel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 19:32:07 +0000 From: nath@uni-duesseldorf.de Subject: What song is this? The song Marvin Engel is asking about has been published in: Skuditski, Z. 1933. Folklor-lider: naye materyaln-zamlung. Vol. 1. Moscow: Emes, p. 143, # 15 and in Slobin, M. (ed.). 1982. Old Jewish Folk music: the collections and writings of Moshe Beregovski. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, p. 231, ##107-108. I don't have those books at hand right now, but the beginning verses (which may actually be all) are the following: Shimke Khazer iz keyn Stambul geforn, er hot gevolt farbesern di yorn, I: er hot gevolt dos lebn makhn beser hot men im arayngerukht a zagranitshni meser :I Mistome iz dos im azoy geven bashert er zol lign tif bagrobn in Stambuler erd. I: Er hot gevolt zayn glaykh tsu di geter, hot men im oyf morgn geleygt in di bleter :I Zagranitshni means foreign. Holger Nath 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 15:42:28 -0500 From: poe@ekbos.com Subject: What song is this? In 6.271 Marvin Engel mentions a line from a song: "er iz gevaldig tsufridn vos di mame hot im gehat" which appears to be an abbreviated form of the expression: "Er freyt zikh vos di mame hot im gehat un nit keyn fremde yidene." This was also one of my mother's favorites and was used to characterize some one who was too stupid to realize that cheerfulness was not always appropriate. Bob Poe 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 03 Apr 1997 17:51:01 EST From: walgol@juno.com Subject: What song is this? Dos ershte lidl, hob ikh gehert, iz a tsinishtik por verter vegn dem mord funem tsar alexander (II?): "er hot gevolt dos lebn makhn beser, hot men im arayngerukt a zagrenitshne meser." Iberzetsung: He wanted to make things better; so, they slipped a foreign knife into him. [Who the "they" were I do not know.] Dos tseyte lid hobn mir oifpaser (counselors) in arbeter ring kemp gezungen in di yorn 1938-40): "ikh bin gevaldik tsufridn vos di mame hot mir gehat; ikh bin gevaldik tsufridn vos di mame hot mir gehat; ikh bin gevaldik tsufridn vos di mame hot mir gehat -- un nit kayn fremde yidene." Iberzetsung: "I am tremendously happy that my mother gave birth to me; I am tremendously happy that my mother gave birth to me; I am tremendously happy that my mother gave birth to me -- And not some strange Jewess." Walter (Velvl) Golman Silver Spring, Maryland 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 97 18:39 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: What song is this? Marvin Engel's query brings to mind a camp song of yesteryear: ikh bin gevaldig tsufridn vos di mame hot mir gehat (3 times) un nit keyn fremde yidene. Mikhl Herzog 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 19:44:36 -0500 (EST) From: komar@suhep.phy.syr.edu Subject: What song is this? The song that Marvin Engel is seeking is "Simkhe Khazer" . It is found in the Beregovsky collection which was issued in paper back a few years ago by the Univ. of Pennsylvania. The second set of lines does not appear to be from the same song. Arre Komar 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 19:51:19 -0500 (EST) From: emlotek@aol.com Subject: Did Sholem Aleichem play the violin? Re the question as to whether Sholem Aleichem played the violin, I quote the same source as L. Friedlander: Volf (Vevik) Rabinovitch, "Mayn bruder Sholem-Aleykhem", Zikhroynes, Kiev, l939, pp. 26-27. But I cite a more complete passage: "Di tekhnik fun shpiln hot er gekont shvakh... Derfar hot er ober geshpilt mit neshome, arayngeleygt inem fidele dos gantse harts, shtark tsugetulyet zikh mitn gekroyztn kop tsu der brust funem fidele, geboygn zikh nokhn takt nokh, - dos fidele un zayn harts hobn zikh tsunoyfgegosn un zaynen fargangen. Zayne oygn hobn gekukt vayt-vayt, in an ander velt arayn, un s"hot zikh gedukht, az nit nor er hert di tener, not er zet zey." I also wrote "Zayne ershte lektsyes fidl-shpiln hot er genumen bay zayn khaver Motl Tribner, dernokh bay Ben-tsion klezmer, un shpeter, ven er iz shoyn alt geven 17 yor hot er vayter zikh gelernt bay Avrom dem klezmer in Rzhistshev." Perhaps L. Friedlander is right that Sholem Aleichem didn't possess much of a technique, but he was able to play something, just as he could improvise on the piano. Sholem Aleichem's daughter Marie Waife Goldberg writes about his piano playing twice, in "My Father Sholem Aleichem," N.Y. l968, p. l4l, and "As I Remember My Father" in "Melech Grafstein's Sholom Aleichem Panorama," London, Ontario, l948, p. 208. Chana Mlotek ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.274