Yiddish Mailing List, Issue #7 May 22, 1989 217 lines ============================== "The Rabbi" song (Country Yossi) Dave Tarras passes on (JTA) Yiddish videos (Miriam Nadel) Klezkamp West, August 1989 in California (David Sherman) [note: send contributions, so I have something for the next issue!] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 07/1 From: dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) Subject: "The Rabbi" song Date: Thu Mar 23 09:10:26 EST 1989 This song is very funny if you know the original. It's sung to the tune of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler", in the same gravelly voice. It's on an album of Country Yossi and the Shteeblehoppers (highly recommended if you like parodies of country songs). The Yiddish is done with a Polish-Yiddish accent to the vowels, which is reflected in my transliteration. The Rabbi On a warm summer's evening On a ride to Monticello I sat next to a rabbi We were both too tired to sleep So we took turns staring Out the window to the darkness Till boredom overtook us And he began to speak He said, "Yoh, ikh bin an alter Un s'tit mir vei di beiner Un khotsh di bord iz lang un groi Ikh hob a sakh gezen Gib aher a bissl bronfn Vel ikh zugn gite eitzes Veil ikh zey in deine pleitzes Vos iz bei dir geshen." So I handed him my bottle And he drank down my last swallow Then he mooched a cigarette And asked me for a light And the night got deathly quiet And his face lost all expression He said, "Ikh gei dir yetzt zugn Vi azoi fun yidishkeit. "M'darf vissn ven tsu koifn Vissn ven tsu loifn Vissn ven tsu dreien git Un ven tsu handlen fein Besser red nisht vus m'darf nisht Un gei nit vi m'tur nit Yo, s'iz git tsi furn, besser iz tsi bleibn in der heim. "Yeder khochem veis Az a yid muz zein b'simkha Danken borey oilam Far alles vos men hot Un halt di toyre teier Veil dortn brent a feier! Un gib a sakh tsedukeh Veil parnuseh kimt fin Got." And when he finished speaking He turned back to the window Said Borey Nefoshos And faded off to sleep And somewhere in the darkness My soul, it started burning For in his final words I found A strength that I could keep. M'darf vissn ven tsu koifn Vissn ven tsu loifn Vissn ven tsu dreien git Un ven tsu handlen fein Besser red nisht vus m'darf nisht Un gei nit vi m'tur nit Yo, s'iz git tsi furn, besser iz tsi bleibn in der heim. [terminology: Borey Nefoshos is the brocha (bentchn) which one says after eating or drinking foods other than bread, wine, fruits or grains.] David Sherman ------------------------ Digest-Message: 07/2 From: dave@lsuc.uucp (David Sherman) Subject: Klezmer Tarras dies at age 95 Date: Thu Mar 23 09:10:26 EST 1989 NEW YORK (JTA) -- Dave Tarras, a clarinetist and a key figure in helping popularize the klezmer movement in America, died of pneumonia recently at age 95. Tarras, born in the Ukraine of a long line of klezmer musicias, emigrated to the United States in 1921 to escape the persecution of Jews in his homeland. Klezmorim, as these musicians are known, perpetuate a unique brand of Yiddish folk music that utilizes mostly horns and accrodinars and that has pervaded European Jewish culture since the Middle Ages. Henry Sapoznik, a prominent klezmer musician and leader of the Kapelya Orchestra in New York, praised Tarras for having "created ... a new form of Jewish music" and having given klezmer "a new venue in America." Incorporating elements of American jazz without relinquishing his Yiddish roots, Tarras pioneered the use of the B-flat clarinet among klezmer players, abandoning the traditional E-flat and C clarinets. He recorded for major labels, including Columbia, Decca and Victor, and accompanied some of the most popular Yiddish entertainers of the 1920s and 30s. In 1984, following a return to performances in the 1970s, Tarras received a Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in tribute to his importance to traditional music. -- Canadian Jewish News, February 23, 1989. [I know Tarras was expected to attend the Klezkamp in December 1988, and I was sorry we weren't able to go because I'd looked forward to meeting him. Does anyone know whether he was able to make it to klezkamp? Andy?] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 07/3 From: mhnadel@gryphon.COM (Miriam Nadel) Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish Subject: Yiddish Videos Date: 1 Mar 89 15:34:21 GMT Ergo Media is releasing 5 Yiddish movie classics and 5 videos dealing with Yiddish language and culture. The videos are being released in honor of the 90th birthday of Molly Picon. The movies in this package include: Yidl Mitn Fidl (1936) in which Picon plays a shtetl girl disguised as a boy in her father's klezmer band Mamele (1938) with Picon as the youngest daughter of a widower left with 7 children A Brivele der Mamen (1938) produced in Warsaw, about a mother's efforts to keep her family together Der Purimshpieler (1937) a romantic comedy about a drifter who falls in love with a cobbler's daughter [the article didn't mention what the 5th movie is. Note that all 4 of the above were directed by Joseph Green] The article also mentioned a documentary titled "Raisins and Almonds: A History of the Yiddish Cinema." I suspect that you will probably have to find a video store that takes special orders to get these, but it may be worth it for Yiddishists. Miriam Nadel ["For a catalogue of Ergo videofilms, which run from US$40-$90, write Ergo Media Inc., PO Box 2037, Teaneck, NJ 07666, or phone (201) 692-0404." From a recent Canadian Jewish News article -- DS.] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 07/4 From: dave@lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Subject: Klezkamp West, August 1989 in California Date: Mon May 22 20:46:49 EDT 1989 I've received a flyer from YIVO for "Klezkamp West", a California summer version of the highly successful Klezkamp Yiddish Folk Arts Program which has taken place every winter in the Catskills for the past few years. It will take place August 27 through September 1, 1989 at Camp Swig in Saratoga, California. Klezkamp "is a week of intensive classes in klezmer music, Yiddish language, song, dance, literature, visual arts and folklore, taught by the finest practitioners and instructors of traditional Jewish folk arts. In the evening there are concerts, lectures, films and jam sessions capped off with all-night dancing to live music. Klezkamp is designed to provide both beginning and advanced practitioners of Yiddish culture with an environment where participation is encouraged." Registration (including meals and lodging at the camp) is US$375 for adults and teenagers, $350 for children. There's a $40 discount for payment postmarked by June 1. Klezkamp West is presented in co-operation with the Berkeley/ Richmond Jewish Community Center. For more information, call the BRJCC at (415) 848-0237, or, in New York, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, (212) 535-6700. ------------------------ END OF ISSUE #7 ------------------------ David Sherman, Toronto Moderator, mail.yiddish { uunet!attcan {AT&T Sites}!att pyramid!utai utzoo } !lsuc!dave dave@lsuc.on.ca attcan!lsuc!dave@uunet.uu.net