Subject: LYR ADD: Undzer Friling & A Zuniker Shtral
From:
Felipa
Date: 29 Jan 22 - 09:58 PM
Undzer Friling ["Our Springtime"] and A Zuniker Shtral["A Ray of Sunshine"] are two poems about the coming of spring, viewed from very different prospectives.
http://www.jewishfolksongs.com/en/undzer-friling
Source: Leichter, Sinai. Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs. Vol. 5: The Mordechai Gebirtig volume. Jerusalem, Hebrew University, 2000
UNDZER FRILING
Friling oyf beymer,
in feld un in vald,
Nor do in geto
iz harbstik un kalt.
Nor do in geto
iz harbstik un trib,
Vi bay an ovl in shtub. .
Friling! In droysn
shoyn felder farzeyte,
Do arum undz
hot zikh yeush farshpreyt,
Do arum undz
shteyen moyern bavakht,
Vi far der tfise baynakht.
Friling - shoyn friling -
bald kumt on der may,
Nor in der luft
filt zikh pulver un blay,
S'akert der talyen
mit zayn blutike shverd
Eyn groys beys-oylem - di erd.
TRANSLATION by Miryam Breitman
Spring's on the tree tops
But here in the ghetto
cold autumn we feel,
The ghetto is gray,
full of sadness and grief
We're sitting here silent, bereaved
Oh, springtime is out there
where fields have been sown,
But here only hopelessness
spreads out its thorns,
And here guards surround us
above on the walls
As night in our prison yard falls.
Springtime, it's springtime,
soon May will be here,
So leaden and dense
feels the air circling near,
The hangman is ploughing
with his bloody sword
One bitter graveyard - the earth.
Recording by The Yiladi Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQRcq-W2aoQ also on https://open.spotify.com/track/2qEgP6KfKAzdQFIlCS37Da
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from the same website as Undzer Friling: http://www.jewishfolksongs.com/en/a-zuniker-shtral and the same source, Leichter, Sinai. Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs. Vol. 5
A ZUNIKER SHTRAL - Transliteration
A zuniker shtral iz aroyf oyf mayn bet,
Fun libinken friling der ershter shtafet,
Un tsertlekh genumen mikh vekn,
"Shtey oyf, mentsh, es togt shoyn,
Der hon hot gekrayt!"
Der friling, der melekh fun libe un freyd,
Er kumt on fun ale fir ekn ...
"Shtey oyf, mentsh! Es togt shoyn!"
Der shtral tsu mir redt -
Un varem - mit libe mikh tsertlt un glet:
"Aroys gey, farshpreyt di yedie -
S'vet bald un gikh kumen oyf vald un feld,
Oyf ale min feygl, oyf mentsh un oyf velt,
Di lang shoyn dervarte yeshue.
"Shtey oy, mentsh! Es togt shoyn!"
Der shtral tsu mir redt,
Ot shpant shoyn mit freyd, mit a shtraln-buket,
Der friling, der onzog fun fridn,
Bald vet fun zayn blik zikh tseblien dos feld
Un likhtik un fray vet bald vern di velt -
Far ale! Un oykh far aykh, yidn."
TRANSLATION by Hadassah Haskale with Sinai Leichter
A ray of the sun has appeared on my bed,
Of loveliest springrime the first augury,
And gently to wake me is beckoning:
"Get up man, it's day now,
the cock has cried out!"
And springtime, the king of the heart and delight
Has lit on all things roundabout.
"Get up man, it's day now!"
The ray says to me -
With touches so tender and light whispering:
"Get going and spread the tidings -
Deliverence is coming to woods and fields,
For all of the birds, for mankind and the world,
"The long sought salvation is nigh."
"Get up man, it's day now!"
The ray says to me,
With touches so tender and light whispering
Of springtime, the season of peace,
Soon releasing on fields bright flowers unfurled
And sunny and free will soon [*be the world]
[for all, even the Jews*]
* lines missing from the website so I don't know exactly how they were translated by Haskale & Leichter
Yiddish in Hebrew letters can be seen at Yiddish lyrics with Hebrew lettering can be found at https://lyricstranslate.com/en/zuniker-shtral-zuniker-shtral.html
and https://yiddishkayt.org/juxtapoetry-gebirtig-oliver/
German language Translation
https://www.cifraclub.com.br/ubersicht/1142247/letra/
Ein Sonnenstrahl berührt mein Bett,
vom lieben Frühling die erste Nachricht,
und ist gekommen mich zärtlich zu wecken.
Steh auf, Mensch, es ist schon Tag,
der Hahn hat gekräht. Der Frühling,
der Engel, von Liebe und Freude,
er kommt aus allen vier Ecken.
Steh auf, Mensch, es ist schon Tag,
der Strahl zu mir redet. Und warm, mit Liebe
mich verwöhnt und streichelt. Geh hinaus
und verbreite die Nachricht. Es wird bald
und schnell über Wald und Felder, über alle
meine Vögel, über Menschen und über die Welt,
die lang erwartete Rettung kommen.
Steh auf, Mensch, es ist schon Tag,
der Strahl zu mir redet, und warm, mit
Liebe mich verwöhnt und streichelt,
der Frühling, der Anzug des Friedens.
Bald wird von seinem Blick erblühen
das Feld, und hell und frei wird bald
werden die Welt, für alle und auch für
euch Juden.
English Translation by Murray Citron:
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/yiddish-translation/our-town-burning-and-beam-sunlight
A BEAM OF SUNLIGHT
A beam from the sun falls across my bed,
It’s how the spring is heralded,
It starts to wake me with tender affection:
Get up, man, it’s dawning,
Hear the cock crow!
The spring, the monarch of love is aglow
And coming from every direction.
Get up, man, it’s dawning,
To me the beam says,
And warm and gentle I feel its caresses—
Go out, spread the news with elation,
On field and forest will soon be unfurled,
On all kinds of birds, on man, on the world,
The long awaited salvation.
Get up man! It’s dawning,
The beam says to me,
Here’s a sunbeam-bouquet, look up and see,
It’s springtime, the time of good news,
Soon will come blossoms, and seeding, and birds,
And nestlings and freedom and bright cheerful words
For all mankind, and for you also, Jews.
That webpage includes also a Murray Citron translation of Es Brent (see lyrics on this thread 11 Aug 2021) and this note comparing the two poems: "Mordechai Gebirtig, 1877-1942, was a cabinet-maker and one of the great Yiddish poets and songwriters of prewar and wartime Poland. He was shot by a guard while being unruly during the evacuation of Krakow. 'Our Town is Burning' (Undzer shtetl brent) was used as a song of defiance during the Holocaust, though it was written in 1936 and refers to prewar pogroms. 'A Beam of Sunlight' (A zuniker shtral) is one of thirteen 'Ghetto Poems' that Gebirtig wrote during the German occupation. The 'Ghetto Poems' were hidden and were recovered and taken to Israel after the war. Despite the stark differences in tone, subject, and mood between these two poems, both are calls to action—one a collective call, and one very personal."
One more translation, from the Two Worlds/Tsvay Veltn Gebertig album translations by Benjy Fox-Rosen with Julie Dawson and Josh Waletzky.
http://www.benjyfoxrosen.net/uploads/1/6/9/9/16990818/two_worlds_english_translation.pdf
A Sunbeam/ A zuniker shtral
A sunbeam fell upon my bed,
The first harbinger of beloved spring.
Gently, it began to wake me.
“Get up! The days breaks, the rooster has already crowed!
Spring, the king of love and joy,
Is approaching from all four corners of the earth.”
“Get up! The day breaks,” says the sunbeam,
Caressing me gently with warmth.
“Go out and spread the news:
In the forests and the fields,
for every bird, every man, and the entire world,
soon and quickly it will be here - the long awaited salvation.”
“Get up! The day breaks,” says the sunbeam,
Caressing me gently with warmth.
“Spring, the herald of freedom,
Soon, its gaze will make the fields blossom,
And soon, the world will be bright and free -
For everyone! And also for you, Jews.”
Benjy Fox-Rosen and company made an album of Gebertig songs. You can listen to Benjy Fox-Rosen singing his own tune for A Zuniker Shtral at https://soundcloud.com/benjy-fox-rosen/a-sunbeam-a-zuniker-shtral
another setting of A Zuniker Shtral, as an art song, is by Mariejan van Oort and Jacques Verheijen from their album of Gebertig songs "Mayn Feyfele" (My Little Flute)@ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arL0oTHaL0U
That leaves just three more songs to find from the list Keberoxu found at the Lieder Archive.
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sj
