Yiddish Tango, Jews in tango

[Eydl <Eydl...>]

OK, so this happens to be my specialty!

Following up on what Hankus and Jeff recently wrote:  

There is also a book called 'Tango, Una Historia Con Judíos' written by Jose 
Judkovski  -- published about a year ago.  Also excellent. 

I have collected (so far) 150 tangos in Yiddish, and a bunch of tangos from 
Argentina that were written, composed, and/ or played by Jews.  Jews were 
right in there at the start of tango, and violin players were especially 
prominent.  When Jewish melodies are imported into Argentine tango, it is 
more likely that the Jewish violin player pulled it out of his memory than 
that a Jewish composer wrote it in.   I have tangos that pull from Zol Shoyn 
Kumen Di Geule and other Yiddish songs.  

Yiddish tango -- tango with Yiddish lyrics -- originated in two places -- 
Argentina and yes -- as Hankus said -- Poland.  Poland was crazy for tango 
between the wars.  Amazing Jewish orchestras, composers, etc.  And then 
people started writing Yiddish lyrics.  

Most of the material that I have is from Poland and Argentina from 1918 til 
the early 50's, including ghetto tangos. And then a bunch a bunch a bunch 
from the Yiddish theatre.  And a few assorted weird things from odd places.  

What am I doing with the material?  Got a few grants (Jewish and non-Jewish 
sources) -- am writing a theatrical, music, dance performance piece.  It will 
debut in Portland Oregon, in December.  And after that, I'm ready to hit the 
road with it.  

So... if anyone has a Yiddish tango that you think might be somewhat obscure, 
or if you have one that you love so much that you want to make sure I have 
it, I'd love to give a listen. 

Jenny Levison

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+