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Piekarski P., Sing to Me in Yiddish


Piekarski P., Wojtaś D. (Eds.), Zaśpiewaj mi w jidysz [Sing to Me in Yiddish]. Translation and Transcription by
Przemysław Piekarski and Dagmara Wojtaś. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Szolem Alejchem, 2000


This collection of nineteen Yiddish songs is yet further evidence that Yiddish culture is alive.
The songs, lidelech, in which the language has survived, continue to find new listeners and fans, and not only among those who know Yiddish for family or academic reasons. And it is thus not only to them that this collection is addressed, but to all those who are interested in discovering a charming world which has disappeared forever. Echoes can only be heard form time to time in Kazimierz during the Festival of Jewish Culture.


Each song is included in the Yiddish language as well as in a transcription (in the Lithuanian dialect) as well as in Polish translation. It is accompanied by the musical notation and a brief note describing the song's origins.
The volume includes some of the most popular Yiddish songs, such as "Bełz" (with words by Jakub Jacobs and music by Aleksander Olszaniecki), "Rodzynki z migdałami"("Raisins with Almonds") (based an old folksong, by Abraham Goldfaden, which was part of his opera "Szulamis"), and a number of songs with words by Mordechaj Gebirtig - the bard of Krakow's Kazimierz.


It might be surprising to learn that one of the songs begins with the words "Gdzie jest ta uliczka?/ Gdzie jest ten dom?" ["Where is that little street/Where is that house?"], which is often sung as a refrain to the Polish folksong "Szła dzieweczka" "A Little Girl Was Walking"].


The authors of this volume invite readers to discover the world of “the high mountain pastures” ("wysokiej połoniny"), the key to which are the songs of the Ashkenazi Jews, full of yearning and sadness as well as love and joy. (asw)

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