Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Tumbalalaika in Brindisi, Italy

Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of southern Italy. It is a major port on the Adriatic Sea, serving as a gateway to Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Brindisi is known for its historic sites, including the Roman Column marking the end of the Appian Way. 

On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, fifth-grade elementary school students and middle school students at the Casale Comprehensive Institute in Brindisi, attended a performance of "Tumbalalaika," a traditional Russian-Jewish song sung in Yiddish by Nadja Martina, music teacher at Kennedy Middle School. 

The song was taken from the CD of her Jewish music group, Shanah Tovah. The song tells the story of a love story, about a shy boy who can't bring himself to declare his feelings for the girl he loves. To hide his passion, he asks her riddles. 

Enjoy! 

Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Tom Lehrer Sings "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

For some of our younger readers who may not know who Tom Lehrer is, he's a 94-year-old retired American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy, humorous songs he recorded in the 1950s and '60s. His work often parodies popular song forms, though he usually creates original melodies when doing so. 

Lehrer's early musical work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor in songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs that dealt with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. version of the television show That Was the Week That Was. The popularity of these songs has far outlasted their topical subjects and references. Lehrer quoted a friend's explanation: "Always predict the worst and you'll be hailed as a prophet." 

In the early 1970s, Lehrer largely retired from public performances to devote his time to teaching mathematics and musical theater history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. 

The clever lyrics in this song are based on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service program to to control pigeon populations in Boston public areas during the 1950s by feeding them cyanide-coated peanuts and strychnine-treated corn.  

Enjoy!

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  #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Tumbalalaika Around the World: Klezmer Balkan Gypsy Orchestra Roulottes Barriolées Plays the Classic Folk Song

The Yiddish folk love song Tumbalalaika originated in Eastern Europe in the 19th century, but its exact origin is hard to pinpoint. That hasn't prevented it from being sung and played over and over, not only in places where Yiddish songs are sung, but just about everywhere in the world, in vocal and instrumental versions, in cabarets and in the movies.

Just as we have followed the songs Hava Nagila, Adon Olam, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, and Abanibi as they took different forms as interpreted by a wide variety of singers, musicians, and dancers, we're continuing the series today that we started back in 2012, bringing you many interpretations of this universal courting and love song.

This rendition of Tumbalalaika was recorded by Roulottes Barriolées, a Klezmer Balkan Gypsy Orchestra. The English translation appears under the video on this page.

Enjoy!

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Tumbalalaika - English Translation

A young lad stands, and he thinks
Thinks and thinks the whole night through

Whom to take and not to shame
Whom to take and not to shame
Tumbala, Tumbala, Tumbalalaika
Tumbala, Tumbala, Tumbalalaika
Tumbalalaika, strum balalaika
Tumbalalaika, may we be happy
Girl, girl, I want to ask of you
What can grow, grow without rain?
What can burn and never end?
What can yearn, cry without tears?
Foolish lad, why do you have to ask?
A stone can grow, grow without rain
Love can burn and never end
A heart can yearn, cry without tears

 

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: California's Bullis Charter School Choir Sings "Hinei Ma Tov"

Charter schools such as the Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California are unique public schools that offer an additional educational choice to California families. 

Charter schools are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. As a public charter school, BCS is free to innovate and implement new programs and teaching methods in order to provide the best education possible for our students.

The K-8 school has four choirs comprising more than 145 students. The Spring concert of their Cambiata choir included a virtual rendition of the Hebrew folk song Hinei Ma Tov.

Enjoy!

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Tumbalalaika Around the World - Italian Singer Stefania Miele Adds Her Version to the Collection

The Yiddish folk love song Tumbalalaika originated in Eastern Europe in the 19th century, but its exact origin is hard to pinpoint. 

That hasn't prevented it from being sung and played over and over, not only in places where Yiddish songs are sung, but just about everywhere in the world, in vocal and instrumental versions, in cabarets and in the movies.

Just as we have followed the songs Hava Nagila, Adon Olam, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, and Abanibi as they took different forms as interpreted by a wide variety of singers, musicians, and dancers, we're continuing the series today that we started back in 2012, bringing you many interpretations of this universal courting and love song.  

This version is sung by Italian singer Stefania Miele, who gives it new form with a videographic montage shot in various Italian locations. It's the tenth version of Tumbalalaika that we've posted, and we don't expect it to be the last.

Enjoy!

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Throwback Thursday: Lou Gottlieb and The Limeliters Explain Rumania, Rumania

Lou Gottlieb (1923-1996) was the comic lead and bass player for the Limeliters, one of the most popular folk song groups in the 1960s. The other two members of the trio were Alex Hassilev on banjo and Glen Yarbrough on guitar. 

Gottlieb was a Ph.D. musicologist (he studied with Arnold Schoenberg) working as an arranger for the Kingston Trio when he met his bandmates in 1959. They were strong on harmonies and on funny, high-brow banter, and produced sixteen records during their six years together. 

He then bought the 32-acre Morning Star Ranch near San Francisco, which became headquarters for some time of the commune that helped provide free food and health services to hippies in Haight-Ashbury and at the Woodstock Festival. 

In 1969, Gottlieb tried to donate his ranch to God, but the court ruled that God would have to appear in person to accept the gift. 

We listened to the Limeliters a lot back in the 1960s and enjoyed their renditions of Lonesome Traveler, Those Were the Days, Wabash Cannonball, and the song that they enjoyed performing most in folk clubs, Have Some Madeira, M'dear.

Gottlieb used Yiddish expressions in some of the Limeliters songs. Here is their rendition of the Yiddish classic Rumania Rumania with funny asides during the running English translation that he provided. 

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday  #TBT

The Great Israeli Singing Groups: The Gevatron Sing Their Hit "Bat Shishim" Then and Now

Today we're starting another new series on Jewish Humor Central -- The Great Israeli Singing Groups. Every few weeks we'll profile one of the ensembles that brought joy to the people of Israel, whether on a kibbutz or in the streets of Tel Aviv in the early days of the state.

Just like us, they've aged. But just like us, they haven't stopped singing the songs that carried them through the founding and building of the state of Israel. We'll post video clips of them at reunions held recently alongside video clips at the height of their popularity.

We'll start with the Gevatron.   The story of the Gevatron troupe begins in early 1948, when a group of singers in Kibbutz Geva performed at the dedication of a new basketball court in the kibbutz. They called themselves the "Gevatron" – a combination of the name of the kibbutz with the name of the "Cheezbatron", a singing troupe that performed during the War for Independence. The young group started performing for communal occasions in the kibbutz, with accordion accompaniment. They were amateurs and sang mainly verses, written by members of the kibbutz, to borrowed melodies, Russian songs for the most part.

One of their most popular songs, Bat Shishim, was originally written for the kibbutz's 60th anniversary in 1981. It was revived and updated in 2008 when the Israel government chose it as the official song to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state.

In this video clip, recorded at their 60th anniversary concert, the Gevatron sing Bat Shishim. It's followed by a video recording of the group singing the original song and a TV report of members reminiscing about the old days after being awarded the prestigious Israel Prize.

Enjoy!

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Here is an English translation of the lyrics:
She (the song, the kibbutz, the State of Israel) is 60  years old,
The head of the Gilboa (mountain)
That someone painted in red

A great day is coming,
A young and new day,
That erases her wrinkles
And her years

She's real 
And not just a symbol
And not a flag or a sign
She is looking to the future 
As the past is behind her
Every single day

A great day is coming
A young and new day
That erases every wrinkle
And her years to the day

She is a grandma
And a mother
And a granddaughter
That becomes always new
Like the seasons of the year
A woman of the summer 
Or the winter
But in her heart she is always spring

Ray Jessel, 84-Year-Old Jewish-Welsh Songwriter, Sings Irish-Jewish Folksong "Shirley Levine"

Jewish-Welsh songwriter Ray Jessel (not related to the late great comedian George Jessel) has been around a long time, but somehow we only found out about him today. The 84-year-old Jessel was born in Cardiff, Wales, and has been writing songs since the 1960s, including songs for the Broadway musical Baker Street about the life of Sherlock Holmes.

Jessel made his cabaret debut when he turned 72, and has been writing comic and naughty songs that he performed in his own acts and on America's Got Talent earlier this year.

As Pat Launer wrote in the San Diego Jewish Journal,

“There were quite a number of Jews there when I grew up, about 2,000 families and three shuls,” the avuncular Jessel says by phone from his home in Los Angeles. His grandfather was one of the co-founders of the Orthodox synagogue in Cardiff, where Jessel had his bar mitzvah.

“Following the Jewish tendency to be musical,” young Jessel started piano early. He earned a degree in music from the University of Wales, and won a scholarship to study composition for a year in Paris. He emigrated to Canada and served as music director for a Reform temple, writing music for the choir.

He became an orchestrator/composer for CBC radio and television. In Toronto, he got involved with musical theater, and that changed his life.

Jessel wrote material for “Upstairs at the Downstairs” revues in New York, and created songs for the Sherlock Holmes musical, “Baker Street,” which ran on Broadway (1965). He wrote the score for “Helzapoppin,” which premiered at the Montreal Expo in 1967.

In this video clip, Jessel sings an "Irish-Jewish folksong" about a fair colleen named Shirley Levine.

Enjoy!

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Remembering Pete Seeger For More Than His Folk Music

Many of us grew up with the folksongs of Pete Seeger and The Weavers, including Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, and Tzena, Tzena. In those days, we didn't pay attention to his politics, only his singing.

In addition to performing Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Seeger also recorded a version of Dayenu, from the Passover Haggadah, in the 1959 album Folk Songs for Young People. Seeger also performed Hineh Ma Tov with the Weavers in their 1963 Reunion at Carnegie Hall.

Seeger, who died last week at the age of 94, was an activist for many leftist causes, but although pressured to join the anti-Israel BDS movement, he declined to join it.

As Ben Harris wrote in The Times of Israel,

Seeger first visited Israel in 1964 and spent time on Israeli kibbutzim — just the sort of collective communal enterprises he loved. He performed Israeli folk tunes with the Weavers in the 1950s as part of the larger folk revival he was helping to champion. And just two years ago, he recorded a video for the Jewish retreat center Isabella Freedman that recalls the three questions posed by the Jewish sage Hillel.

Seeger was fascinated with Hillel and the three questions attributed to him in Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). In the video below he reflects on the questions and suggests that they be taught in all schools. 

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Finjan, the Old Israeli Campfire Song, Was Originally an Armenian Folk Song

Finjan is an Arabic name for an old type of coffeepot, held by its long handle over an open flame. After a hard day's work, the pioneers in Israel would often build a fire, sing & relax & pass around the Finjan. 

If you are old enough to remember the Chalutzim and Kibbutzniks and the songs that they sang around the campfire (and that many of us sang around campfires in overnight camps in the United States and Canada) the strains of HaFinjan will strike a familiar chord whenever they are played.

Not many of us who sang it are aware that this old Israeli campfire song was adapted by Moshe Wilenski from Hingala, an Armenian folk song.  Here is a video of the original Armenian song performed by Ruben Sahakyan, followed by the version that we're familiar with, sung by Yaffa Yarkoni in 1967. The words in Hebrew, English transliteration and translation appear below the videos.

Enjoy!

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(A tip of the kippah to Sheila Zucker for bringing this video to our attention.)