Hava Nagila Around the World - A New Performance in Jaroslaw, Poland

One of the joys of posting videos on Jewish Humor Central is discovering new versions of traditional Jewish and Hebrew songs as they are performed around the world, often in unexpected places.

Since we started Jewish Humor Central in 2009 we have posted 123 different versions of Hava Nagila. The song has shown up in many countries, including some unexpected ones (Scroll down the left column on this page and click on Hava Nagila in the Keywords list and you'll see what we mean.)

Today we're posting a version of Hava Nagila that was performed last month at Jarmark Jarosławski, an end of summer music and arts festival in Jaroslaw, a town in Eastern Poland.

Enjoy!

Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi as Sung in the Shtetl of Mszana Dolna, Poland

Mszana Dolna is a town in Poland, with 7,431 inhabitants. Mszana Dolna lies 50 kilometers south of Kraków. The town is located in a deep valley, surrounded by several ranges, including the Gorce Mountains featuring Gorce National Park.

The Jewish community in Mszana Dolna is mentioned in the 1891 official record of Jewish congregations. However, Jews must have started living there much earlier. The first Jews to settle down in Mszana Dolna were innkeepers, which is confirmed by 18^th century data.  Inns were leased to those Jews by the local nobility. 

January 17 is the Day of Judaism in Poland. Workshops were conducted with three groups of young people, who learned the basic concepts of the Jewish religion and culture and elements of the celebration of Shabbat.

sztetlmszanadolna.com is a website dedicated to saving the memory of the Jews of Mszana Dolna and building kind relations with the descendants of the few among them who survived the Shoah. Its organizers take care of the sites of memory and martyrdom of the Jews of Mszana Dolna, organize anniversaries of the Shoah in the town, as well as Remembrance Days and Remembrance Walks. Together with the town’s youth they plant crocuses at the mass murder sites to commemorate the youngest victims. Every week they light the Shabbat candles and bake challah and they also light the menorah during Chanukah. 

In this video, members of the community sing the traditional version of Lecha Dodi to welcome Shabbat.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Hava Nagila Around the World: Andre Rieu and His Johann Strauss Orchestra in Poland

Last week Dutch conductor and violinist Andre Rieu took his Johann Strauss Orchestra to the Ergo Arena in Northern Poland, located between the Baltic Sea cities of Gdansk and Sopot.

The program included a rousing version of Hava Nagila. It's the 107th version of Hava Nagila that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central 13 years ago.

Rieu and the orchestra have turned classical and waltz music into a worldwide concert touring act, as successful as some of the biggest global pop and rock music acts.

Rieu's father was conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra in the Netherlands. Showing early promise, André began studying violin at the age of five. From a very early age, he developed a fascination with orchestra.

Rieu created the Johann Strauss Orchestra in 1987 and began with 12 members, giving its first concert on 1 January 1988. Over the years it has expanded dramatically, nowadays performing with between 80 and 150 musicians. Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, North and South America, Japan, and Australia. The size and revenue of their tours are rivaled only by the largest pop and rock music acts.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.  

Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem by Akademos Choir in Lublin, Poland

The Polish city of Lublin once served as one the most important centers of Jewish life, commerce, culture and scholarship in Europe. It had the world's largest Talmudic school. Lublin was also well known for its fairs and market days. Little remains today of its past splendor.

But today Lublin is the home of the Akademos Choir - the mixed choir of the Private Junior High School and High School. Ignacy Jan Paderewski in Lublin. Founded in September 2006, it is one of the Lublin choirs taking part in the All-Poland Choir Program "Singing Poland".  

The choral repertoire is very diverse: gospel, entertainment music, carols and pastoral, patriotic songs. The choir performs both a capella and with accompaniment. It has numerous occasional concerts co-organized with the Lublin Philharmonic and concerts abroad.

In this video the Akademos Choir sings Shalom Aleichem.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom. 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam from the Jewish Culture Festival in Poland

The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland is an annual cultural event organized since 1988 in the once Jewish district of Kazimierz (part of Krakow) by the Jewish Culture Festival Society headed by Janusz Makuch

The main goal of the festival is to educate people about Jewish culture, history and faith  which flourished in Poland before the Holocaust, as well as to familiarize them with modern Jewish culture developing mostly in the United States and Israel, and finally, to provide entertainment.

Each festival is held in late June or early July and takes nine days, from Saturday to Sunday. During that time concerts, exhibitions, plays, lectures, workshops, tours, etc. are organized.

At this year's festival, Kolot Min Hashamayim (Voices from Heaven), a boys' choir from Haifa, Israel, participated and sang songs including this version of Adon Olam, which we hope you'll enjoy as much as we did.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Hava Nagila Around the World - Polish Violin Virtuoso Artur Banaszkiewicz

Today we're adding to our growing collection (numbering more than 50) renditions of Hava Nagila. We always thought of this song as a simple Israeli folk song. But in the hands of an accomplished violin virtuoso like Artur Banaszkiewicz it can be much more.

Banaszkiewicz is a violinist, composer and arranger. He has been performing on stage since he was five. In 1985 he won the first prize at the Young Violinists' Contest in Koszalin. In 1988-1990 he benefited from the Polish Ministry of Culture and Arts scholarship and studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. 

Apart from the classical violin repertoire, he performs virtuoso fantasias and renderings of some famous and very much liked pieces from various realms of music.

Especially popular with Polish and international audiences is a concert show called "THE GYPSIES ENCHANTING EVENING". It comprises pieces inspired by the Gypsy folklore on the one hand, and the Jewish musical tradition on the other. 

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila Resonates in Southern Poland

In Southeastern Poland, close to the borders with and Slovakia, the sounds of Hava Nagila were heard in the streets of Rzesziw in 2010. The song was featured in a concert outdoors in the rain, with a large chorus and orchestra leading the way, and the large crowd, holding umbrellas, joining in the singing.

As we point out in the headline above, this is a Jewish trace, but not a Jewish group singing. It's a Christian choir started by two Catholic priests in the area of Rzeszow, with much the same energy as the Cornerstone Singers from Texas expended in their country version of Hava Nagila, which we reported on way back in November 2009, our first blog post about the spread of this song around the world.

Shabbat shalom!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)  


 

Holocaust Remembrance Day: Museum of Jewish History to Open in Poland

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), so we're sharing some uplifiting news from Poland about developments on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. 

The Museum of Jewish History in Poland, now under construction on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto, is slated for a formal opening to the public later this year.  On April 19th, the Museum will have a soft opening which will begin its educational and cultural programming in its new building with the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. 

This stunning, state-of-the-art Jewish museum will add exhibits until mid-2014 when it will be ready for a full opening.  It will be on a par with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Israel’s Yad Vashem. The key difference is that the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will extend the historical narrative beyond the Holocaust to encompass an epic Jewish history that even today profoundly shapes contemporary Israeli and American Jewish life.

The video below gives a good idea of what the museum will look like when it's complete and the breadth of Jewish life that it will portray to the millions of visitors who are expected to view its exhibitions.

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)    
 

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

Israeli Singer Moti Giladi Performs Sinatra's "My Way" His Way - In Yiddish

We always find it enjoyable to watch Yiddish translations of popular music, whether pop songs or Gilbert and Sullivan operas. We're particularly fond of the Yiddish versions of The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance.

So when we saw a new YouTube posting of a Yiddish version of Frank Sinatra's My Way, we thought of sharing it with you. This version was sung by Israeli singer Moti Giladi at a Jewish Music Festival in Warsaw in 2007. 

Singing to a full house in a large auditorium, Giladi gives a strong performance of the classic ballad in Yiddish translation. So how do you translate the title? At first hearing, we thought it was "My Vei." But after a few replays, we're pretty sure it's "Mein Veg." Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Streets of Krakow Come Alive With Jewish Music

For the last 21 years the streets of the city of Krakow, Poland, have been crowded with musicians and listeners as the Krakow Jewish Cultural Festival takes over each summer.  This year the festival events took place from June 24 through July 3.

The Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków is an annual cultural event organized since 1988 in the once Jewish district of Kazimierz (part of Kraków) by the Jewish Culture Festival Society headed by Janusz Makuch, a self-described meshugeneh, fascinated with all things Jewish.The main goal of the festival is to educate people about Jewish culture, history and faith (Judaism), which flourished in Poland before the Holocaust, as well as to familiarize them with modern Jewish culture developing mostly in the United States and Israel, and finally, to provide entertainment.

Each festival is held in late June or early July and takes nine days, from Saturday to Sunday. During that time concerts, exhibitions, plays, lectures, workshops, tours, etc. are organized. The two most important concerts are: the inaugural concert on the first Sunday, and the final concert on the last Saturday of the festival. The former usually takes place in one of seven synagogues of Kazimierz and features cantorial music; the latter is always held outdoors, in Ulica Szeroka, the main street of the Jewish part of Kazimierz, and features klezmer music. In between there are many more concerts, usually with some variations of klezmer music.

Here's a little taste of what went on for nine days in June and the beginning of July.  Enjoy!