More to come!
Note that links are to English translations of Yiddish...
Vi ahin zol ikh geyn/Tell me, where can I go. A 1930s Yiddish tango that was popular in the ghettos and Displaced Persons camps. Yiddish lyrics attributed to S. Korntayer (Yiddish actor, died in Warsaw ghetto 1942), and music attributed to Otto Strok (was a Latvian composer and pianist, nicknamed the "Riga Tango King", who survived the Holocaust). Yiddish to English singable translation by Laura Rosenberg, 2026.
Bolgar KMDMP 02-37-994. Informant: Motl Reider, 70, Dubno (Ukraine). Digitized by Jordan Hirsch, 2/9/2021
Freylekhs – KMDMP 14-49-1338. Smhmuel Meckler, Vitebsk (Belarus), 1909. Digitized by Alicia Svigals 1/15/2021, arranged by Christina Crowder
Sobolevsky’s Nign in Three – KMDMP 11-46-1314. 12 year old fiddler M. Sobolevsky, Volodimir Volinski (Ukraine). Digitized by Judith Nemtanu
Sobolevsky’s “Skotshne” Nign – KMDMP 11-46-1313. 12 year old fiddler M. Sobolevsky, Volodimir Volinski (Ukraine). Digitized by Judith Nemtanu
Abi Gezunt/As long as You're Healthy. Abraham Ellstein, Warsaw, 1938.
A Freylekhs KMDMP 8-43-1284. Informant: Motl Reider. Digitized by Dan Carkner, 20/06/2022
Marshl KMDMP 03-38-1119. Farshribn Komediant (Comedian) Moisei Gershkovitsh, Kremenets (Ukraine)
Terk in Amerika. Naftule Brandwein Orchestra, 1924. "This piece uses a popular Greco-Turkish melody called "Ulan, Ulan" or "Uskudar" coupled with Brandwein's embellishments..." For a very interesting history of this melody as it's found across the Balkan world, see this wonderful and somewhat disturbing movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHjYi5BRpJY&pp=ygUed2hvc2Ugc29uZyBpcyB0aGlzIGRvY3VtZW50YXJ50gcJCcUKAYcqIYzv
S'iz nito keyn nekhtn/Yesterday is already gone. "...the song was published in 1917 by the Society for Jewish Folk Music in Petrograd as an anonymous folksong in an arrangement by M. Shalit..." Arrangement and English Translation, Laura Rosenberg, 2026
Der Heyser Bulgar/The Hot Bulgar. Naftule Brandwein Orchestra, 1923. "'Der Heyser' was introduced to vaudeville audiences by Brandwein soloing with Joseph Cherniavsky's Yiddish American Jazz Band in 1924."
Dobranoch. Disk 6 Volume 6, The First Folklore Expeditions of Moisei Beregovskii 1929-1930. Dobranoch performed by Itsik Triplik, 59, flautist and barber. Recorded in Slavuta, Kamenets Podolskii region on 16 August 1929 by Moisei Beregovskii.
Ale Brider/All Brothers. Traditional; adapted from a poem by Morris Winchevsky (1856-1932), entitled “Akhdes” (Unity), in Di Kalekotke (The Rattle), published in Arbeter Fraynd Aug. 29, 1890. Updated many times, including by Josh Waletzky and Laura Rosenberg. Folklorist A. Litvin noted that the song ”was the most popular folk song that was sung in the old country, mostly at Bundist parties. . . Each time it was sung something was added by each singer extemporaneously.”
Here’s the piece that came out in the Vic news fyi. See you all tomorrow, Shabbat shalom and take care, Lucy