Category Archives: Musical

May you find Peace, The Eagle in the sky

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 3-15-18
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian, a bit of Hebrew

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Other language(s):  Italian, a bit of Hebrew
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 3-15-18

 

What it is: May you find Peace, Traditional Native American Burial Ceremony

The performance I witnessed was a traditional Native American Funeral Ceremony.

A few weeks after the Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara, California and the subsequent mud slide and after every missing person (except Jack Canton) was found, Jack’s best friend Cozmali and his family conducted a beautiful traditional Native American ceremony. The ceremony consisted of music and prayers. This ceremony is highly sacred and private and was not able to be video taped. Altogether (with testimonials included) the ceremony was approximately an hour and a half.

We were explained that the ceremony is about helping Jack find peace on his new journey as well as letting him know he is all on our thoughts. The ceremony however was a bit unusual as we did not have Jack’s body present; thus, certain aspects were left out or adapted to our situation. These objects were also involved: drums, feathers, ash, talking stick, and blankets. The Drums were used during the vocal portion of the ceremony (i.e. chants and songs). The feathers, of an Eagle, were used as a visual representation of Jack’s new journey. The ash was passed around, individuals would pinch some ash and then travelled to the water to “set Jack free”. This aspect was normal done with a mixture of a fires ash and a small bit of Jack’s possessions (or ashes), but since we have not found his body we used ashes from a fire. The talking stick was used so that we could all share stories and memories. Lastly, the blankets were wrapped around Jack’s mother and grandparents to represent the community they had supporting them. At the conclusion an Eagle flew over head, circling us, and we all broke out crying because we knew Jack was going to be ok.

Why they know it:  I personally witnessed the ceremony

When is it said: This specific ceremony is conducted after a death

Where did it come from: The Chumash

Why it’s said: To give the ones we lost peace and to help aid them on their journey

How they know it and what it means: Cozmali has been raised in this culture that dates back centuries and has been taught this process by witnessing it first hand and by his elders. He is not ready to lead the ceremony on his own; however, is very close to being able to do so. This is a cultural tradition that changes with the passing of time; all-the-while remaining very much the same.

Thoughts: Personally, witnessing this ceremony greatly lessoned the pain I was feeling about Jack’s loss. He was a friend of my brother and a positive member of my community. He created philanthropy groups and was an Eagle Scout. Because he was missing, I kept thinking he’d show up alive but after the ceremony, I believe it provided me with the closer I needed to move on and help spread his greatness. The ceremony was beautiful, all-the-while, deeply educationally. This tribe is a part of my home, native to Santa Barbara area; thus, provided me with cultural knowledge of my hometown. This was also a sign that Jack is still with us, as he was a huge advocate for knowledge.

Tum Balalaika

Nationality: Jewish-Canadian-American
Age: 92
Occupation: Artist
Residence: New York, NY
Performance Date: 3 Apr 2018
Primary Language: Yiddish
Language: English

Yiddish Transcription:

Shteyt a bocher uner tracht,
Tracht und tracht di gantze nacht,
Vemen tsu nemen, un nit farshemen,
Vemen tsu nemen, un nit farshemen.

Chorus
Tum bala, tum bala, tum balalaika,
Tum bala, tum bala, tum balalaika,
Tum balalaika, Shpil balalaika,
Tum balalaika, freylich zol zayn.

Meydl, meydl, ich vil bay dir fregn,
Vos ken vaksn, vaksn on regn?
Vos ken brenen un nit oyfheren?
Vos ken beynkn, veynen on treren?

Chorus

Narisher bocher, vos darfst du fregn,
A shteyn ken vaksn, vaksn on regn?
A Jibe ken brenen un nit oyfh eren,
A hartz ken beynken, veynen on treren.

Chorus

English Translation:

A young man is deep in thought,
And he wonders whom he ought,
To take as wife for all of his life,
To take as wife for all of his life.

Chorus
Play ‘bala,’ play ‘bala,’ play ‘balalaika,’
Play ‘bala,’ play ‘bala,’ play ‘balalaika,’
Play ‘balalaika,’ play ‘balalaika,’
Play ‘balalaika.’ Let there be joy.

Tell me, maiden, I’d like to know,
What it is needs no rain to grow?
What’s not consumed although it’s burning?
What weeps no tears although it’s yearning?

Chorus

You foolish boy, didn’t you know,
A stone does not need rain to grow?
A love’s not consumed although it’s burning,
A heart weeps no tears although it’s yearning.

Chorus

Going through my family attic, I came across a box of tapes hand-labelled “Yiddish Yodel 1992-95.” From asking around, I learned that a group of relatives and family friends kept up a tradition of singing together every year, to practice their traditional language and reconnect over their immigrant ancestry; most were second-generation. This song is a well-known Yiddish folk lullaby, but to figure that out, I had to take the tape to one of only two surviving participants in the ‘Yiddish Yodels’, who provided me with my transcription and translation. These days you can just search “Tum Balalaika” online, and see hundreds of results helping carry the tradition, but hearing it on the tape and it resung live by my informant made the traditional nature of the song feel much more real to me.

Hava Nagila

Nationality: Jewish-Canadian-American
Age: 92
Occupation: Artist
Residence: New York, NY
Performance Date: 3 Apr 2018
Primary Language: Hebrew
Language: English

Phonetic Hebrew Transcription:

Hava nagila, hava nagila,
Hava nagila, venismecha.

Hava nagila, hava nagila,
Hava nagila, venismecha.

Hava neranenah, hava venismecḥa,
Uru achim belev sameach.

Hava neranenah, hava venismecḥa,
Uru achim belev sameach.

English Translation:

Let us rejoice, let us rejoice,
Let us rejoice, and be happy.

Let us rejoice, let us rejoice,
Let us rejoice, and be happy.

Let us sing, let us be happy,
Awake my brothers with a happy heart.

Let us sing, let us be happy,
Awake my brothers with a happy heart.

Going through my family attic, I came across a box of tapes hand-labelled “Yiddish Yodel 1992-95.” From asking around, I learned that a group of relatives and family friends kept up a tradition of singing together every year, to practice their traditional language and reconnect over their immigrant ancestry; most were second-generation. This song is a well-known Hebrew folk song. Although, I knew that I had heard it before, to figure that out, I had to take the tape to one of only two surviving participants in the ‘Yiddish Yodels’, who provided me with my transcription and translation. Wikipedia calls Hava Nagila “perhaps the first modern Israeli folk song in the Hebrew language that has become a staple of band performers at Jewish weddings and bar/bat mitzvah celebrations,” which would explain why I knew the tune. However, the lyrics you find there, and many other places online, are far more complicated than the ones my informant knew. It seems that when the song was passed down orally, as opposed to in writing on recorded, it became greatly simplified so that passive bearers of the tradition could participate more easily.

One online version found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hava_Nagila

When I First Came to This Land in Yiddish

Nationality: Jewish-Canadian-American
Age: 92
Occupation: Artist
Residence: New York, NY
Performance Date: 3 Apr 2018
Primary Language: Yiddish
Language: English

English Translation:

When I first came to this land, not much money in my hand,
So I got myself a shack, and I did what I could.
And I called my shack Break My Back,
But the land was sweet and good, and I did what I could.

2nd verse: cow/called my cow, No Wilk Now
3rd verse: duck/called my duck, Out of Luck
4th verse: wife/called my wife, Run for Your Life
5th verse: son/called my son, My Work’s Done

Going through my family attic, I came across a box of tapes hand-labelled “Yiddish Yodel 1992-95.” From asking around, I learned that a group of relatives and family friends kept up a tradition of singing together every year, to practice their traditional language and reconnect over their immigrant ancestry; most were second-generation. Among many songs only slightly familiar to me in tune, one stood out as completely recognizable. It was a song I myself had sung countless times in English during my childhood. Although I could not manage to get a Yiddish transcription of the original, a confirmation of song’s premise and my remembered version from my informant was enough to satisfy me. The formulaic nature of this song makes it incredibly easy to remember, and allows participants to sing if for almost as long as they wish, as long as they can keep coming up with rhymes. The verses above are merely one set of options among great multiplicity and variation.

Another version of the song in English can be found in the Smithsonian’s Folkways project, recorded by Pete Seeger: https://folkways.si.edu/pete-seeger/american-favorite-ballads-vol-3/folk-popular/music/album/smithsonian

The Tradition of the Yiddish Yodel

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 58
Occupation: University Professor
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: 29 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

“The ‘Yiddish Yodel’ was held in Deer Isle, Maine in the summer, usually in august at my parents house or their friends’ house. And there would be twenty to thirty guests, all Jews from New York who spend their summers up in Maine, most of them artists of one kind or another. I think it started because one evening a smaller group just started singing Yiddish songs, and then they had the idea that they should make it a yearly event, and then it just grew and grew and grew with more and more guests, unit finally they started printing out lyric sheets and, um, what else? At one point, they really did buy an organ to keep up there—one of those little electric organs—and they bought it specifically for Renee to play at the Yiddish Yodel. And they often looked to Renee for knowledge and inspiration. I’m not exactly sure why she remembered more Yiddish songs than anyone else, but she did. And she was also a preschool teacher so she was very keen on teaching everyone how to sing the songs.

“I don’t think it started out as a reenactment of a tradition in a conscious way, although Renee recently told me that when she was a child, in the summers, she and many other Jewish families who lived in New York would go up to the Catskills  to these bungalow colonies, and the moms and the kids would be up there all week, and the dad would come up on the weekends. And she said that on Saturday nights, they would all gather in the—there was some gathering hall, entertainment room or something—and they would recite Yiddish poetry and sing Yiddish songs. So I think now that she’s making that connection in a conscious way, but i don’t ever remember anyone saying anything about that when this started, But clearly, as soon as it started, people were very keen on turning it into its own tradition, even if they weren’t consciously linking it to an older experience in a direct way. They didn’t start recording these until later, when I wasn’t there for them anymore, so I don’t know how they decided—how or why they decided to start recording.

“It was just, like, bring as many chairs as you possibly could from everywhere into the house, into the living room, in, like, a rough circle. But really there was no order to it, and the living room wasn’t really big enough—either living room it ever happened in—wasn’t really big enough for them to really forma circle, so some people were sitting behind each other. When it started out it was much less formal, like, people would just—someone would start singing a song—and they’d finish that one and just be like, ‘oh, who remembers another song?’ And they would just sing the songs that they remembered. As it went on and it got bigger and bigger, it got more organized with Renee really leading songs and Bernie becoming like a master of ceremonies. You can hear that on the tapes. But when it started it was much less formal, it was just people getting together and trying to remember the songs. So it guess in that way it was trying to revive, not a specific tradition, but I guess a more general aspect of their culture.

“I bet they hadn’t really sung these songs in any sort of consistent way for… forty years. You know, some of them might have sung some of them… but it was probably forty years… they learned them in their childhood… and then, they didn’t all know exactly the same songs, so then they would start teaching them to each other and maybe someone would remember that ‘oh yeah, I did know that song.’”

Going through my family attic, I came across a box of tapes hand-labelled “Yiddish Yodel 1992-95.” They were recordings of a large gathering of people singing in Yiddish and Hebrew. I asked around to find out more, and although it seems only a couple of the original participants are still alive, one of their daughters gave me this detailed account.

Although the specific tradition of the “Yiddish Yodel” was a new one—created by this small community of Jewish artists in the 1980s. It was clearly a way to preserve much older traditions of folk music and language they feared were dying out, and was not the first attempt at this. In 1948, Ben Stonehill collected over one thousand songs from holocaust survivors in New York.

In the instance of the “Yiddish Yodel,” we see folk, communal, spontaneous origins. However as it progressed, we can see formalization and the development of a separation between active bearers (Renee and Bernie) and passive bearers (their friends).