Re: the Misierlou story

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

Druze dances are done line-style, and can resemble Miserlou in some respects, 
but the two are not related. In fact, just as the popular, traditional Israeli 
hora was invented only 50 or 60 years ago for an international folk dance 
festival, the origins of Miserlou (at least on the dance side) are equally 
recent. Helen Winkler dug up this URL last time this discussion came up. At 
some point, I should search the whole jewish-music archives and create a 
"Miserlou FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)":

http://www.iecc.com/cgi-bin/artget?e20000110009

The last big discussion of the dance and music and its origins was the first 
week or two of January, 2000.

ari

At 02:30 PM 11/22/00 -0500, you wrote:
>I heard that Misierlou is an old Druze song. Then I saw it being danced to 
>in a Greek restaurant in Ventura, CA (if anyone here is from there, GO TO 
>THAT RESTAURANT -- there's an *unbelievable* kid who dances there). It's on 
>the Klz Conservatory Band's CD "Dancing in the Aisles." And, of course, a 
>rock version is on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
>
>So what's up with this song? Where did it really come from? When was it 
>written? Why is it so widespread across cultures?
>
>thanks,
>K.O.B.Y.
>"Revenge is not sweet, Fries - it is a bitter pill! And that pill is an 
>erosive medication that eats away at your soul!" - Batman, LEGENDS OF THE 
>DARK KNIGHT #121, in one of his more inspired moments
>
>My website: Rare Cartoon Network MP3s
>http://www.geocities.com/pdestructo 
>
>---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+
>