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Last update: 02.05.2012 |
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© 1998-2012 AUFWIND Andreas Rohde |
Avek di yunge yorn
1 Klezpourrie Klezpourrie is a medley which we originally put together for a theatre production. A doyna is an improvised piece in a free rhythm. We found this one on a ´78 recorded in 1923 recorded by clarinettist Naftule Brandwein. Elsewhere the same piece is called Rumanian Doyna. The hora is a Rumanian dance in 3/8 with accents on the first and third beats (don´t confuse it with the Israeli dance of the same name). Shtile Hora is a composition by our violinist Claudia. The next part of the medley is called Khassidim Tants (also known as Jewish Dance or simply freylekh). The character of its melody encouraged us to arrange it in the rhythm of a Terkish, a dance form imported from a Greco-Turkish regions. Its driving rhythm is similar to that of the tango. It is followed by a sher, a popular East-European dance in 2/4, in tempo a bit slower than the bulgar or freylekh. Lekhaim, a song from the Megilleh by Itsik Manger, is the finalé of Klezpourrie. The master-tailor tells his apprentices to begin with the purimshpil, they clink glasses. We know the Odessa Bulgarish incorporated into this song from a ´78 recording made by the Abe Schwartz Orchestra in 1919. Der alter majnsster Fonfasse "Nu, chewre, fun nodl un scher, Blischtschen di kojssess un klingen: 2 In shtetl Nikolayev Surele falls hopelessly in love with a shoemaker. The shoemaker gets draughted into the tzar´s army. Surele can´t get over it and commits suicide by poisoning herself. We found the words and music of In Shtetl Nikolayev (a town on the Black Sea) on a ´78, recorded in 1923 by David Medoff, who also performed under the name Igor Petrenkov. In schtetl Nikolajew, lebn Schwarzn Jam, 3 Yidish tango Play me a tango in Yiddish - the tango of an expelled and scattered people - to which grandmother can dance as well as the kids. Play me a tango that´s neither Aryan nor barbarian, so my enemies can see that I still dance. Play me a tango of peace, and don´t let it be a dream, let Hitler and his Reich drop dead. Oh, that´ll be a dance for you! Along with Mues (track 8) this song is found in "Lider fun getos un lagern", a collection made by Shmerke Kaczerginski, published in 1948 in New York City. The melody became more popular with different words and the title "Shpil zhe mir a lidele in yidish". Schpil-ssche mir a tango ojss in jidisch,
Schpil-ssche mir a tango, nor nit arisch,
4 Baym rebn in Palestine/Terkish yale v'yove tants We know the hora Baym rebn in Palestine from the 1929 recordings of the BRODER KAPELLE. We´ve added an improvised section and combined it with Terkish yale v´yove tants (recorded by Brandwein, 1923). 5 Hulyet, beyze vintn A song about the "evil winds", which devastate the fields, chase the birds away and destroy houses. Storms, your time is now. The winter will still last long, spring is still far away. Poet Avrum Reisen has been called the "Heinrich Heine of Yiddish". His song, originally called Tsum winter, was written during the hard winter of 1900. In 1904/05 Jewish workers changed the last lines into a more promising lang vet doyern nit der winter, friling iz nit vayt (winter won´t last long, spring isn´t far away). Huljet, huljet, bejse wintn, 6 Shoyn avek der nekhtn Yesterday is already gone, Tomorrow is not here yet, just a little bit of Today. So don´t bother us with sorrows. Have another glass while you´re still alive, for in the next world you won´t get anything. The Jewish Folk Music Association in Petrograd published that song in 1917 as an anonymous folksong. Textual and melodic elements could point towards a khassidic origin. Schojn awek der nechtn, noch nito der morgn, 7 Don un Donye Don has two black sidelocks and is the best student in school. Donye has two golden braids and is called the queen of the steppes, where she brings the sheep every day. They meet every morning, they blush and cast their eyes down bashfully. And when Don is sitting in school the letters blur into a herd of sheep. And when Donye watches the herd she keeps thinking of Don´s curled sidelocks. We found this lyrical love song in the same American collection (by Joseph and Eleanor Khana Mlotek) in which we found Hulyet, beyze vintn. It is said to have been popular not only in America, but also in Europe. Don hot zwej pejelech schwarze, 8 Mues Mues - money is the best thing. The Judenrat (Jewish Council; installed by the nazis in the ghettos during WW II) takes taxes from us, but we only get bread and sugar to eat. At home I ate oranges, now I get eaten by lice and bugs. You can bribe Jewish policemen, too, not to get into the camp. So if you don´t have money, hand your food card away and get yourself immortalized in the the community´s death records. We got to know this song from New York singer and actress Adrienne Cooper. In "Lider fun getos un lagern" is written about it: gezungene kupletn in varshaver geto oyf dem yidn-rat (forzitser Tsherniakov), oyf der yidisher politsay un oyf andere aktuele temen. Behind the gently swinging rhythm and the thrown-in Shtiler Bulgar lies an angry and ironic text. Muess is di erschte sach. 9 Fun tashlikh We´re not sure if Fun tashlikh really has anything to do with the tashlikh ritual, the symbolic cleansing from sins by emptying the pockets into flowing waters on Rosh Hashana. The melody comes from a Brandwein recording of Feb. 18, 1926. Instead of rummaging in our pockets we rummaged into the melody and underlayed a doyna to improvise, a hora to swing and dance rhythms. 10 Mayn rue-plats Don´t look for me where myrtles grow green, birds sing or fountains splash. You won´t find me there. My resting place is where lives wither at machines, teeth grind and chains jangle. And if you really love me, come to me and make my resting place sweet. Moris Rosenfeld was a Russian Jew who immigrated to America 1886. There, he earned his money as a worker in the clothing industry. Some of his lyrics became very popular. Mayn rue-plats has been in Aufwind´s repertoire since the group was founded in 1984. Nit such mich wu di mirtn grinen, 11 Avek di yunge yorn/Doyna/Gassn-nign From across the mountains pigeons come, and they leave as fast as they can. My young years passed by the same way. I tell my brothers to harness the horses to the carriage, so that I can hasten after my young years. On a big, broad bridge I reach them and implore them to come back to me for at least one moment. But they reply: No, we wouldn´t return. You shouldn´t have wasted us during your youth. We heard the song for which this CD is named in the house of an Ukrainian woman, where we spend a night in the summer of 1993. We found an Ukrainian version on a tape by the singer Mariam Nirenberg, who lived in Canada from 1932. A linguistically proficient friend helped us to reconstruct the Ukrainian text. The doyna and the gasn-nign are from the collection of Soviet ethnologist Moishe Beregovsky. Afn barg, ibern barg, contents and transkriptions lyrics: linear notes: |
