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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Gebirtig
http://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/arts/musVicti.htm
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/music/detail.php?content=forest
Yiddish (ייִדיש
yidish or אידיש
idish, literally "Jewish") is a non-territorial High German
language of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. Yiddish is
conventionally written in the Hebrew alphabet.
The
language originated in the Ashkenazi culture that
developed from about the 10th century in the Rhineland and then spread to central and eastern Europe and eventually to other
continents. In the earliest surviving references to it, the language is called
לשון־אַשכּנז (loshn-ashkenaz = "language of Ashkenaz") and טײַטש (taytsh, a
variant of tiutsch, the contemporary name for the language otherwise spoken in
the region of origin, now called Middle High German;
compare the modern New High German
Deutsch). In common usage, the language is called מאַמע־לשון (mame-loshn,
literally "mother tongue"), distinguishing it from biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, which are
collectively termed לשון־קודש (loshn-koydesh, "holy tongue"). The term "Yiddish"
did not become the most frequently used designation in the literature of the
language until the 18th century.
For a significant portion of its history,
Yiddish was the primary spoken language of the Ashkenazi Jews and once spanned a
broad dialect continuum from Western Yiddish to three
major groups within Eastern Yiddish. Eastern
and Western Yiddish are most markedly distinguished by the extensive inclusion
of words of Slavic origin in the
Eastern dialects. While Western Yiddish has few
remaining speakers, Eastern dialects remain in wide use.Gebirtig’s reputation today
Today, Gebirtig is perhaps best known internationally for his song, "S'brent" (It is Burning), written in 1938 in response to the 1936 pogrom of Jews in the shtetl (small town) of Przytyk. It sounded an alarm for the approaching calamity that would become known as the Holocaust.[1] Undzer shtetl brennt was sung in the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe. Since then the song, in the original Yiddish and in its Hebrew translation titled "Ha-Ayyarah Bo'eret" (העיירה בוערת, "Our Little Town is Burning!" (See Stetl) - hence the occasional reference to a Yiddish title, "Undzer Shtetl Brent!"), continues to be widely performed in the context of Holocaust commemoration.
[edit] Gebirtig’s life and death
Mordecai Gebirtig (1877-1942) was born in Krakow and lived in its Jewish working-class quarter all his life, one which was ended by a Nazi bullet in the Krakow Ghetto on the infamous "Bloody Thursday" of June 4th, 1942. He is the preeminent "folk" artist in Yiddish literature and song. Gebirtig served for five years in the Austro-Hungarian army. He was self-taught in music, played the shepherd's pipe well, and tapped out tunes on the piano with one finger. He earned his livelihood as a furniture worker; music and theater were avocations.Gebirtig’s beliefs
Gebirtig belonged to the Jewish Social Democratic Party, a political party in Galicia which merged into the Jewish Labour Bund after World War I. The Bund was a Yiddishist proletarian socialist party, which called for Jewish cultural autonomy in a democratic and socialist Poland.
[edit] Gebirtig’s music
From 1906 he was a member of the Jewish Amateur Troupe in Krakow. He also wrote songs and theater reviews for Der sotsial-demokrat, the Yiddish organ of the Jewish Social-Democratic Party. It was in such an environment that Gebirtig developed, encouraged by such professional writers and Yiddishist culural activists as Avrom Reyzn, who for a time lived and published a journal in Krakow. His talent was his own, but he took the language, themes, types, tone and timbre of his art from his surroundings, in some measure continuing the musical tradition of the popular Galician cabaret entertainers known as the Broder Singers, who in turn were beholden to the yet older and still vital tradition of the batkhn's (wedding jester's) improvisatory art.
[edit] The style of folk songs
It was only in 1920, under the second Polish Republic, that he published his first collection of songs, significantly entitled Folkstimlekh ('of the folk'). His songs spread quickly even before they were published, and many people regarded them as folksongs whose author or authors were anonymous. Adopted by leading Yiddish players such as Molly Picon, Gebirtig's songs became staples of numerous regular as well as improvised theatrical productions wherever Yiddish theatre was performed. It is not an exaggeration to say that Gebirtig's songs were sung and lovingly sung the world over.
[edit] Recognition and work
Gebirtig is most famous for his song "Undzer shtetl brent," which was written in 1938 following the pogrom in Pszytyk and which was later adopted by the Jewish youth of Krakow and others as a battle song against the Nazis.
In his song "S'tut vey" ('It Hurts'), Gebirtig is shattered by the absence of solidarity of all Polish citizens against the Nazi invaders. Dated Krakow February 1940, it is a song directed against those Poles who laughed when German soldiers humiliated and tortured old Jews in the streets of Krakow.
Gebirtig's song "It Hurts" expresses what most Jews have always felt and what courageous Poles like Jan Blonski have clearly said on this painful subject: the Poles could not have saved the Jews from their fate and are not responsible for that fate, but they could certainly have shown more compassion to the Jews in their agony.[edit] References
^ "Our Town Is Burning (Undzer shtetl brent)" (html). Music of the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. undated. http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/music/detail.php?content=burning. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
[edit] Bibliography
http://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/arts/musVicti.htm
http://findingaids.cjh.org/?fnm=MorGebirtig&pnm=YIVO
http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/krakow/gebirtigmordechai/
http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=1901
http://www.musicforte.com/shop/lyrics-and-sheet-music/artist/MordechaiGebirtig
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Gebirtig"
Yiddish evolved to the national language of Jews in the pre WWII diaspora in Eastern Europe , particularly Poland .It originated in Ashkenazi culture from the 10th century in the Rhineland
conventionally written in the Hebrew alphabet. Yiddish was the primary spoken language of Ashkenazi Jews, the mother tongue.
I. "S'brent" Wrote this song in 38 and in response to 36 pogrom of the Jews of Przytyk and sounded an alarm or portent of the impending holocaust soon to come.
Undzer shtetl brennt was sung in the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe. Since then the song, in the original Yiddish and in its Hebrew translation titled "Ha-Ayyarah Bo'eret" (העיירה בוערת, "Our Little Town is Burning!" (See Stetl) - hence the occasional reference to a Yiddish title, "Undzer Shtetl Brent!"), continues to be widely performed in the context of Holocaust commemoration.
2. He was born in Cracow where he met his end on bloody Thursday June 4 1942 where the ghetto was liquidated.He is the preeminent folk artist in Yiddish literature,played the shepherd's pipe and earned his livelihood as a furniture worker. Literature and song were his avocations.
3.Gebirtig's beliefs-Member of the Jewish socialist democratic party that later merged with the Bund. It was a proletarian socialist party calling for Jewish cultural autonomy in a democratic and socialist Poland.
4.His talent was his own but he took the language and themes from his surroundings and continued the tradition of the Broder singers, and they derived their tradition from the
batkhn's (wedding jester's) improvisatory art.
5.His first folk song collection Folkstimlekh spread before they were published and many regarded them of anonymous authorship. They were adopted by leading Yiddish players .They became staples of the Yiddish theatre.
It was only in 1920, under the second Polish Republic, that he published his first collection of songs, significantly entitled Folkstimlekh ('of the folk'). His songs spread quickly even before they were published, and many people regarded them as folksongs whose author or authors were anonymous. Adopted by leading Yiddish players such as Molly Picon, Gebirtig's songs became staples of numerous regular as well as improvised theatrical productions wherever Yiddish theatre was performed. It is not an exaggeration to say that Gebirtig's songs were sung and lovingly sung the world over.
6.S'tut vey" This song expresses the hurt of recognizing the silent collaboration of the Poles with the Nazi invaders. Were it not for their complicity the Nazis could not have been so successful.
In his song "S'tut vey" ('It Hurts'), Gebirtig is shattered by the absence of solidarity of all Polish citizens against the Nazi invaders. Dated Krakow February 1940, it is a song directed against those Poles who laughed when German soldiers humiliated and tortured old Jews in the streets of Krakow. Gebirtig's song "It Hurts" expresses what most Jews have always felt and what courageous Poles like Jan Blonski have clearly said on this painful subject: the Poles could not have saved the Jews from their fate and are not responsible for that fate, but they could certainly have shown more compassion to the Jews in their agony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8VQz69Id7c Kinderjohren yiddish song from Cracow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJlIOMaqj0E Yiddish Lullaby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNKNypH1Juo Yiddish Song: Mein Shtetl Belz, 1928 Not
Gebirtig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcDKIuAVZQY Dray Tekhterlekh - Yiddish song from
Cracow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_rTHdUBIWI Farewell Cracow! Yiddish songs by
Mordechai Gebirtig
