The Yiddish Tango - Congregation B'nai Israel

The Yiddish Tango:

From Argentina to Eastern Europe and Back

a presentation by

Joan O. Epstein, Prof. of Music, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL

June 19, 2013 – International Conference of the College Music Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Feb. 22, 2015 – Sunday Morning University, Congregation B’nai Israel, St. Petersburg, FL

What is the Tango?

Is it a dance?
Is it an instrumental music genre?

What is the Tango?

Tango as a dance:

Evolved between 1880 and 1910 to become tango per se.
Note in both the simple American version and
the flamboyant modern Argentinian form
- interdependency / intimacy of the partners
- persistent bent knees
- off kilter slides or dramatic dips
- playful tension between fluid movement and strict phrasing

Basic steps / motions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVF3farOPwE

Flamboyant version: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=R7_rnucyZg8&index=4&list=PLCDAB41CC9C8ADCA

What is the Tango?

Tango as instrumental music:

Evolved alongside the dance beginning in the 1880s

Note in this performance of “La Cumparsita:
- playful tension between free melodic phrasing
and larger phrase structure
- playful tension between sharply articulated
gestures and smooth ones
- surprising silences

Instrumental version of “La Cumparsita”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yoLXINtBwE&list=PLCDAB41CC9C8ADCA2

What is the Tango?

Is it a song type?

Most tango numbers had lyrics from the
start or added them some afterward

What is the Tango?

Lyrics to “La Cumparsita”

If you knew, that still deep in my soul However, I always remember you
I keep that affection with the saintly affection
that I had for you.
that I had for you...
Who knows if you could know And you are everywhere,
a piece of my life.
that I have never forgotten you;
Going back into your past, And those eyes that were my joy,
I look for them everywhere
you will remember me... and I can't find them.

My friends no longer come To the abandoned pad,
not even to visit me; not even the morning sun
peeks through the window
Nobody wants to console me like when you were here.
in my affliction...
And that friendly puppy
Since the day that you left, who because of your absence did not eat,
I feel anguish in my chest. when it saw me all alone, the other day,
Say, woman, what have you done it also left me.
with my poor heart?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0LosvoEEy8

Jewish Presence in Argentina

16th – 18th Century: Marranos, secret Jews, most Sephardic, settled in Argentina under the Inquisition. Many assimilate.
1813: Argentina declares independence from Spain & end of Inquisition. Jewish immigration from Central and Eastern Europe begins.
1860: First Jewish wedding in Buenos Aires; first congregation founded soon afterward.
1880s: Pogroms in Eastern Europe bring in thousands of Jews barred from entering North America.
1889: 100,00 Jews settle the rural Pampas with support of Baron Maurice de Hirsch’s Jewish Colonization Association.
1906-1912: 13,000 per year Jews leave Eastern Europe, Morocco & Ottoman Empire for urban Argentina.
1920: 150,000 Jews live in Argentina, nearly all the newest arrivals in Buenos Aires.
1930s: Continued immigration to Buenos Aires & Rosario from countryside and Europe as the Holocaust unfolds.
1946-55: Some Jews leave for Israel and North America under Peron. Nonetheless, 310,000 Jews live in Argentina in 1960.
1976-83: Terrible period of “the disappeared” under a military regime causes more Jews to leave.
1992 & 1994: Bombings of Israeli Embassy & AMIA Community Center caused further emigration.
2015: Still considerable anti-semitism in Argentina, yet 150,000 Jews remain; 7th largest Jewish community in the world.

The Origins of Tango

Candombé (Congolese Drumming, Dance & Song adapted by slaves in South America)

- bent knees, dramatic dips and dramatic arm gestures
- tension between fluid dance moves and fixed rhythm of the drumming

Danced to drums alone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU2n3YfdKig
Danced to a Europeanized carnival song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUTFsq9dJsc

The Origins of Tango

Habañera (European contradanza infused with an African or Arabic “clave beat”)

Note some similarity between habañera as a dance and tango, especially
dip and slide half way through each set of steps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-vxF8NVt2A

Note similarity between Afro Cuban clave beat and Arabic maqsuom rhythm:
Focus on 2 – 3 pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsTfm1xIvPA
Focus on beginning of clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uceRc5SSZUI

The Origins of Tango

Habañera (European contradanza infused with an African or Arabic “clave beat”)

“La Paloma” as sung by Placido Domingo
(Clave beat is very audible here.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8gLDihFduw

The Origins of Tango

Other Important Influences

The Waltz & other intimate European couples dances

Jewish Klezmer Music
Listen for vocal “kvetching” and wildly free and expressive melody
in tension with a strict rhythmic framework.
Giora Feidman’s “Klezmer’s Freilach”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8gLDihFduw

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Canyengue

Tango Criolla

Salon style tango

Milonga

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Orquesta Tipica

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Jewish Couples Dancing Early Tango in Buenos Aires

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Arturo Bernstein AKA El Alemán (1882-1935)

First bandoneón virtuoso

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Luis Rubistein (1908-1954)

Family sailed from Odessa in 1902.

Best know as a composer of tango songs.

Famous tunes include “Charlemos” (Let's Talk), “Cuatro palabras” (Four words),
“Tu perro pekinés” (Your Pekinese dog), “Inspiración” (inspiration),
“Ya sale el tren” (The train leaves), “Cadenas” (Chains), “Animal,”
“ Nada más” (Nothing more), “Tarde gris” (Grey afternoon) - recorded with
Carlos Gardel - and “Marion.”

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Oscar Rubens (1914-1984)

Younger brother of Luis Rubinstein.

Also known as a poet and composer of tango songs.

Dozens of important songs including "Mientras duerme la ciudad” and
"Es en vano llorar" (with Alberto Suárez Villanueva), "Los muñequitos”
(Francisco Pracanico), "Calla bandoneón" (Carlos Lazzari),
"Dejame en paz" (Américo Actis), "Corazón qué has hecho" (Antonio Ríos)
and "Domingo a la noche" (Juan José Guichandut).

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Abraham Moisés “Alberto” Soifer (1907-1977)

Family sailed from Odessa in 1902.

Established as a pianist & composer by 1920.
Established partnerships many top tango performers

in the 1930s.

Had several important tango orchestras in Buenos
Aires and provided music for many films.

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Josef Nezow AKA José Nieso

Violinist & composer
Debuted in 1927 with the orchestra of Roberto Firpo.
Went on to found his own.

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Bernardo Mendel Sucher AKA Manuel Sucher or Manola (1913-1971)

Bourgeois parents came from Odessa in 1901.
Established as a violinist & pianist in Rosario by 1920.
Established partnership with bandeleonist Felix Liesker in 1930.
Went on to establish important tango orchestra in Buenos

Aires and to compose and arrange tango music.

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Moisés Smolarchik Brenner AKA Ben Molar (b. 1915)

Instituted national Day of Tango as Dec. 11 (shared
birthdays of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro.)

Jews & the Birth of Tango

Mordechai David “Max” Glücksmann (1875-1946)

Arrived 1890.

Became importation agent for Odeon Records, 1904.

Founded Discos Glücksmann which had cornered
the tango market in Argentina by 1914.

Owned movie theaters throughout South America that
popularized tango.

Both recordings and films fueled the world-wide tango
craze.

Jews & the Birth of Tango

“Mazl,” early Yiddish tango film Mamele,as sung by Molly Picon

Mazl du shaynst amol far yedn Luck you shine on everyone
Far yedn nor nit far mir Everyone but me.
Mazl du brengst a yedn freydn Luck, you bring them happiness

Far vos farzoymtu mayn tir Why do you shun my doorway?
Akh vi es tut bang a yeder sho There’s pain in every luckless hour

Dos lebn fargeyt, un keyn hofenung iz altz nishto Life passes without hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44A8aF26gPQ

Jews & the Birth of Tango

“Di Grine Katshke,” autobiographical tango song by Yiddish

activist poet, artist, musician & puppeteer Zuni Maud

Geyt a grine katshke There goes a green duck Zuni Maud’s equally autobiographical
Mit a royter noz; With a red nose; sketch of himself at his family’s radical
Vil zi shmekn tabak – She wants a pinch of snuff, summer retreat in the Catskills,
Hot zi nit mit vos. But she has none. Zumer-Ray.

(Chorus) (Chorus)
Grine katshke, royte noz, Green duck, red nose,
Un ikh veys nit, un ikh veys nit, What this is,
Vos iz dos. I don’t know.

Geyt di grine katshke, There goes the green duck,
Geyt arum un kayt; She walks about and chews,
Vil zi brokn lokshn – She wants to make some noodles,
Hot zi ni keyn tsayt… But she has no time.

(Chorus) (Chorus)
Dreyt zikh um di katshke, The duck bustles about,
Dreyt zikh on a zin. She bustles about without a thought.
Vil zi geyn shpatsirn – She wants to take a stroll,
Hot zi nit vuhin… But has no place to go.

(Chorus) (Chorus)
Geyt di grine katshke, There goes the green duck.
Geyt arum un trakht; She walks around and thinks.
Vil zi davnen minkhe – She wants to say the evening prayers,
Falt shoyn tsu di nakht. But it’s already getting dark.

(Chorus) (Chorus)

Jews & the Birth of Tango

“Papirosn,” early Yiddish tango from the New York Yiddish theater
as sung by Zully Goldfarb (Started as a non-tango song for film of same name.)

A kalte nakht a nepldike finster umetum,
shteyt a yingele fartroyert un kukt zikh arum.
fun regn shitst im nor a vant,
a koshikl halt er in hant,
un zayne oygn betn yedn shtum.
Ikh hob shoyn nit keyn koyekh mer
arumtsugeyn in gaz, hungerig un
opgerizn fun dem regn naz.
Ikh shlep arum zikh fun baginen,
keyner git nisht tsu fardinen,
ale lakhn, makhn fun mir shpaz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odRpiRBKYK8&list= A cold night, foggy, and darkness everywhere
PLAS9m4A6-Nu44OPsl6B9E2Cnna80jRpty A boy stands sadly and looks around.
Only a wall protects him from the rain;

He holds a basket in his hand
and his eyes beg everyone silently:

I don't have any strength left to walk the streets
Hungry and ragged, wet from the rain,
I shlep around from dawn.

Nobody gives me any earnings,
everyone laughs and makes fun of me.

Yiddish Tangos with Substitute Texts

“Papirosn” as performed in the film Amerikaner Shadken & by Metropolitan Klezmer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7rr0Bk1iwM

Yiddish Versions of Pre-existing Tangos

“La Cumparsita” as sung by Carlos Gardel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BB7XdyU-Z0

Si supieras que aun dentro
de mi alma,

conservo aquel cariño
que tuve para ti...
Quien sabe si supieras
que nunca te he olvidado,
volviendo a tu pasado
te acordaras de mi...

If you knew, that still deep
in my soul

I keep that affection
that I had for you...
Who knows if you could know
that I have never forgotten you,
going back into your past,
you will remember me...

Yiddish Versions of Pre-existing Tangos

“La Cumparsita” as performed by José Derasner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10pm95qJLiM

Original Jewish Tangos

“Mein Erster Tango” (“My First Tango”) composed and performed by Jacob Sandler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuIE1JUWwz0

Original Jewish Tangos

“Zlota pantera” (“The Golden Panther”) composed and performed by Jakub

Kagan (in Polish)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juy6pdOtxcE

Transformed Jewish Tangos

“Main Yidishe Mame” anonymous arrangers & performers (in Russian with Kol Nidre intro)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vftYsKOG4vo

Original Jewish Tangos

“Pato – Tango Argentinian” by Ramon Collazo as performed by Arturo Gold’s &

Jerzy Petersburski’s band, Warsaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcqR_9DLvaQ

Jewish Tangos from the Ghettos

“Ich hab’ kein Heimatland” performed by Marek Weber’s Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6tyesDCEgk

Ich hab kein Heimatland
Ich habe nichts auf dieser Welt
Ich zieh von Land zu Land
Und bleibe da, wo’s mir gefällt
Ich darf nicht glücklich sein
Ich kenne keinen Sonnenschein
Warum bin ich so ganz allein
Auf dieser Erde?

I have no homeland
I have nothing in this world
I'm moving from country to country
And stay there where I please
I may not be happy
I know of no sunshine
Why am I so alone
On this earth?

Jewish Tangos from the Ghettos

“On a heym” (“Homeless”), a reworking of “Mazl” by an unknown resident
of the Sosnow Ghetto, performed by Adrienne Cooper & Zalmen Mlotek

On a heym un on a dakh, gevandert hobn Homeless, no roof overhead,
mir a gantse nakht We wandered through the night
Not knowing where we were headed.
Nit gevust ahin, vos vet zany undzer tsil

On a heym, on a dakh,
Gevandert hobn mir a gantse nakht.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQhqvGqjAwY&list=
PLZIRaU47zcuAvL0LjTa0ii-oZLcQ6o9Wc&index=4

Jewish Tangos from the Ghettos

“Es iz geven a Zumertog” (“It Was a Summer’s Day”), a rewritten version
of “Papirosn” created by a 12 year-old girl, Rikle Glezer, in the Vilna Ghetto

http://www.tangele.com/

Es iz geven a zumer-tog It was a summer’s day. Lloica Czackis
Vi shtendik zunik-sheyn, As always beautifully sunny.
Un di natur hot dan gehat And nature had within it
In zikh azoyfil kheyn, So much charm.
Es hobn feygelekh gezungen, Birds were singing
Freylekh zikh arumgeshprungen, Cheerfully hopping around,
In geto hot men undz geheysn geyn. As we were ordered into the ghetto.

Okh shtelt zikh far vos s’iz fun undz gevorn! Oh, imagine what became of us!
Farshtanen hobn mir: s’iz alts farloyrn. We understood all is lost.
Nisht geholfn undzer betn, Our pleas were of no help,
Az s’zol emitser undz retn- Asking for someone to rescue us;
Farlozn hobn mir dokh undzer heym. We had deserted our home.

Concentration Camp Music

“Civilized” camp concert

1st concentration camp work song

Orchestra at Auschwitz Band “welcoming” slave workers
at Auschwitz

Orchestra at Janowska

Concentration Camp Music

Sculpture commemorating Artur Gold & his trio at Treblinka

Concentration Camp Music

Sculpture commemorating Artur Gold & his trio at Treblinka

Tangos as Totentanzen

“Ta ostatnia niedziela” (“This is Our Last Sunday”) or “Our Last Shabbas”

Gold & Petersburski original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hg58QQmdc

Chorus

To ostatnia niedziela
dzisiaj się rozstaniemy,
dzisiaj się rozejdziemy
na wieczny czas.
To ostatnia niedziela,
więc nie żałuj jej dla mnie,
spojrzyj czule dziś na mnie
ostatni raz.

This is the last Sunday
Today we part,
Today we are absent
the eternal time.
This last Sunday,
so I do not regret it for me,
look down lovingly at me now
the last time.

Tangos as Totentanzen

“Ta ostatnia niedziela” (“This is Our Last Sunday”) or “Our Last Shabbas”

Hebrew version recorded in Germany, 1933 using Shabbas instead of Sunday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ha92yBAB-c

Chorus

To ostatnia niedziela
dzisiaj się rozstaniemy,
dzisiaj się rozejdziemy
na wieczny czas.
To ostatnia niedziela,
więc nie żałuj jej dla mnie,
spojrzyj czule dziś na mnie
ostatni raz.

This is the last Sunday
Today we part,
Today we are absent
the eternal time.
This last Sunday,
so I do not regret it for me,
look down lovingly at me now
the last time.

Tangos as Totentanzen

“Ta ostatnia niedziela” (“This is Our Last Sunday”) or “Our Last Shabbas”

Gidon Kremer’s Tango Nuevo version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWaLhLcfBF8

Chorus

To ostatnia niedziela
dzisiaj się rozstaniemy,
dzisiaj się rozejdziemy
na wieczny czas.
To ostatnia niedziela,
więc nie żałuj jej dla mnie,
spojrzyj czule dziś na mnie
ostatni raz.

This is the last Sunday
Today we part,
Today we are absent
the eternal time.
This last Sunday,
so I do not regret it for me,
look down lovingly at me now
the last time.