Subject: Tsen Brider ^^ From: Wolfgang Date: 24 Aug 00 - 12:29 PM A song I like a lot. The best of all counting down songs. It's music is a mixture of lament in the verses and dance music in the chorus. I think you'll find that the mixed in between translation from the original jiddish is readable after you get used to it. The spelling of the lyrics differs in the two versions I have. I did my best in the translation but there might be mistakes left.
TSEN BRIDER It is a traditional song, however it got a new last verse in a German concentration camp (Sachsenhausen). The similarity of the two jiddish (German) words 'Gass' (Gasse) and 'Gaz' (Gas) (lane/gas) was too close to be overlooked. So here's an alternative more recent ending:
Eyn bruder nor bin ikh geblibn, Wolfgang ^^ |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Jacob B Date: 24 Aug 00 - 02:51 PM Thanks for putting this in, Wolfgang. Where did you find it? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Rollo Date: 24 Aug 00 - 06:11 PM Thank you for this last verse from the kz, wolfgang. A friend of mine uses to sing this song a lot, but he makes quite a mummery out of it, whining and groaning... suddenly it is no more fun to me. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Wolfgang Date: 25 Aug 00 - 04:29 AM Jacob, I only found tiny bits on the web, so I had to type it from a (mostly) German songbook, Der neue Zupfgeigenhansel. But it is also in several other (German) songbooks. Rollo, one can sing it cheerfully for that's its original intention I think. But with the shoah in mind this song really gets a new dimension. The new last verse is from here. This site has much more information but it's in German. Wolfgang |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Joe Offer Date: 25 Aug 00 - 06:00 AM Hi, Wolfgang - you might like to take a look at Zemerl, the Jewish Song Database. I found the "Tsen Brider" in a songbook, so I'll send a MIDI to Mudcat MIDIs. Here's a prose translation of the song: We were ten brothers and we traded in flax. One died, and nine were left...What a powerful song. -Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Wolfgang Date: 25 Aug 00 - 06:09 AM Great, Joe, thanks for the link, the midi, and the much better to read translation. Wolfgang |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Alan of Australia Date: 16 Nov 00 - 11:41 AM G'day, Thanks to Joe the tune for "Tsen Brider" can be found here at the Mudcat MIDI site.
Cheers, |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: GeorgeH Date: 23 Nov 00 - 02:18 PM There is a version of this song on the CD "We died in Hell - they called it Paschendaele" which I just recommended in a thread entitled "Lest we forget . ." It's reduced to three and a half verses, and the notes on it say: Martin Rosenberg was a Polish Jewish musician who wrote this version of an old Jewish nursery rhyme during his imprisonment in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Before the war he conducted a working men's choir in Neukoeln, near Berlin. In 1939 he was arrested for being a Socialist and sent to Sachsenhausen. As soon as he had recovered from being tortured there he set up a clandestine choir of some 25 Jewish inmates who together performed in secret. When it became known that the Jews of Sachsenhausen were being transported to Auschwitz, Rosenberg wrote this grim evocation of the gas chambers. In 1942 Rosenberg and his choir were, indeed, moved to Auschwitz where they all lost their lives in the course of the following year. Just before his transportation Rosenberg passed on his song to the Polish political prisoner Alex Kulsiewizc and asked him - if he survived - to tell the world, through this song, of the extermination camps. Kulsiewizc did survive and he kept on singing until his final days in 1982. A short while before his death he, in turn, passed the song on to Shoshana Kalisch. Shoshana, herself a survivor of Auschwitz, is the performer of the song on the CD. And if you want the words of this version (English, Flemish or - presumably - Yiddish) they're in the CD booklet, so you'll have to do yourself the favour of buying it - it's a purchase you won't regret! G. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Joe Offer Date: 04 Jan 01 - 11:46 PM I came across another transliteration of the lyrics, so I thought I'd add them. -Joe Offer- TSEN BRIDER Tsen brider zaynen mir gevezn Refrain: Nayn brider zaynen mir gevezn, Akht brider zaynen mir gevezn, Zibn brider zaynen mir gevezn, Zeks brider zaynen mir gevezn, Finf brider zaynen mir gevezn, Fir brider zaynen mir gevezn, Dray brider zaynen mir gevezn, Tsvey brider zaynen mir gevezn, Eyn bruder bin ikh mir gevezn,
Eyn bruder nor bin ikh geblibn, (One brother only I remain. With whom shall I cry? The others were killed - do you remember their names? Yidl with the fiddle, Moyshe with the bass. Listen to my last song. They're taking me also to the gas). |
Subject: Mir lebn ejbig From: Mysha Date: 27 Nov 07 - 08:58 PM Hi, I coudn't find this one before, as spelling differs and as I know it as "Mir lebn ejbig": We live forever. I too noticed that the order of blaj and hej is not fixed. I guess, as with the other differences that this would be a matter of dialect - how to rhyme best with draj and tswej. As I know it, the final verses have no chorus between them, but there are several chorusses at the end. Also, I'm use to singing "then I was one left", rather than "then we were one left". Tswej brider senen mir gewesn, hobn mir gehandlt mit bejner. Ejner is fun unds geschtorbn, bin ich mir geblibn (nur nog) ejner. Ejn bruder bin ich mir gewesn, hob ich mir gehandelt mit licht. Schterbn tu ich jedenn tog, wajl tsu esn hob ich nit. Chorus Chorus Chorus Mysha |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Joe Offer Date: 28 Nov 07 - 02:52 AM Hi, Mysha - I think we're encountering different methods of transliteration. I never see Yiddish words transliterated that way here in the United States. When I see Yiddish transliterations from other contries, I have to do a brain shift so I can understand. I've found it helps to be familiar with the various methods of Yiddish transliteration - then I can Google for a phrase in various ways. -Joe- |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Tsen Brider From: Mysha Date: 29 Nov 07 - 02:11 AM Hi Joe, I guess the transliteration does play a part: Over here German and Dutch might have an influence on the way the words are written with Latin letters. But I'd say dialects do play as part as well, as e.g. "uns" and "unds" would not seem to represent the same sound. Mysha |
Share Thread: |
Subject: | Help |
From: | |
Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") |