RE: G-d un doss kelbl = "Dona, dona"

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

I wrote this Friday afternoon and now see that I didn't send it off. 
 Thought I did.

 ----------------------------

Since Chana Mlotek is not available, I just spoke to singer/master Yiddish 
music teacher Masha Benya to ask a question I have had about this song, 
i.e., why did Tsaytlin and Secunda write "dana, dana" as opposed to 
something else and how did it become "dona, dona".  Masha confirmed Chana's 
printed information, something I would never doubt anyway.  Chana is THE 
best of the world's expert on Yiddish music and if she wrote it, you can 
believe her.  Masha also told me that she has an original copy of the song 
Secunda gave her in the 1940's.  It seems that Ben Yomen may have also 
thought that "dana" had something to do with Spanish or Sefardic language 
and published it as "Dona".  If he learned the song from a published 
source, most probably one that didn't use standard Yiddish orthography, he 
may have guessed that the alef needed a komets rather than a pasakh, simply 
because the Spanish 'dona' was familiar to him and Polish 'dana' was not. 
 These kinds of errors happened all the time before standard Yiddish 
orthography became the publishing standard.  Who knows why Ben Yomen 
incorrectly attributed the song to Katsenelson.  Tsaytlin and Secunda were 
very active in those years and the play Esterke (1940-'41) was very well 
received.

Masha Benya said that according to Yiddish actress Rita Karpinovitch, o"h, 
'dana, dana' is a common refrain in Polish songs.  (Rita, whose father ran 
a Yiddish theater in Vilna, would have known.)  So, no folklorization -- my 
question about this song, was involved in its going from 'dana' to 'dona', 
just an error with similar kind of guessing method.  'Adonay' sounds 
intriguing, but just ain't it.


Reyzl


----------
From:  Kame'a Media [SMTP:media (at) kamea(dot)com]
Sent:  Friday, February 23, 2001 7:32 PM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant
Subject:  Re: G-d un doss kelbl

Hi Josh:

According to Eleanor Gordon Mlotek and Joseph Mlotek this information is
untrue, even though it has appeared in print in otherwise reputable
collections, among them Ben Yomen's (1946).  They also  write that on a "
recent record produced in Germany, not only is the song attributed to
Katznelson, it is also interpreted as having been written in the Ghetto to
expressd Jews' longing for freedom."  (Pearls of Yiddish Song)

As the song was performed in NYC in 1940, the story that it was written in
Warsaw Ghetto c.1942 does not appear to be true.


Wolf


Joshua Horowitz wrote:

> Budowitz Website: http://www.budowitz.com
>
> I thought that Itzak Katsenelson wrote the song after his wife and 2
> children were deported from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 to Auschwitz where
> they were murdered. He was later murdered himself in Auschwitz in 1944. 
Josh
>
> >From: Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl (at) flash(dot)net>
> >To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> >Subject: RE: G-d un doss kelbl
> >Date: Fri, Feb 23, 2001, 11:50 AM
> >
>
> > This is true about Bikel.
> >
> > The original word as the composer and lyricist sang and wrote it were
> > "dana, dana".  (I heard it myself from the composer, Wolf Younin, whom 
I
> > knew well.)  It later got changed to "dona", but I can't remember by 
whom
> > or why.  Was this just the folk process or Theodore Bikel decision? 
 There
> > are many people around who would know the history of this song to 
answer
> > most questions.  But I am sure that it had nothing to do with "adonay".
> >
> >
> > Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky
> >
> >
> > ----------
> > From:  Kame'a Media [SMTP:media (at) kamea(dot)com]
> > Sent:  Friday, February 23, 2001 2:04 PM
> > To:  World music from a Jewish slant
> > Subject:  Re: G-d un doss kelbl
> >
> > Hi Paula:
> >
> > I believe Theodore Bikel sings it: "Donay, donay, donay...."
> > But I agree Michel may be trying to read too much into it.
> >
> > Wolf
> >
> > PTAW85 (at) aol(dot)com wrote:
> >
> >> That's the first time I've heard it.  I have heard many native
> >> Yiddish-speaking singers do this song, and never have I heard anyone
> >> pronounce the words in the chorus other than "Dona, dona".  I think 
you
> > may
> >> be trying to read too much into it.
> >>
> >> Paula Teitelbaum
> >>
> >> In a message dated 2/23/01 8:41:24 AM, borzykowski (at) infomaniak(dot)ch 
writes:
> >>
> >> << In the famous song "Doss kelbl", the chorus "Dona dona", pronounced
> > with a
> >> *good* yiddish accent sounds like "Donay donay".
> >>
> >> I always wondered whether it was another way to call for G-d without
> >> pronouncing His name and without singing "Hashem" (that obviously 
sound
> > like
> >> a fake).
> >>
> >> Any opinion?
> >>
> >> Michal (tso kikhal) >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>


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