Mail Archive sponsored by Chazzanut Online

jewish-music

<-- Chronological -->
Find 
<-- Thread -->

Fw: Re: "Donna Donna"



Trudi,
What have you got against Joan Baez?
That she mispronounced an originally Yiddish word?

She sang us some beautiful songs and inspired 
songwriters to write for her and still is a role model
for many younger women performers. One could do
a lot worse. 
Lee

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Trudi Goodman" <goobietheg (at) hotmail(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2001 23:17:09
Subject: Re: "Donna Donna"
Message-ID: <F251IqtQvAauNjVuMhv00002cb5 (at) hotmail(dot)com>
Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
Received: from mx7.jersey.juno.com (mx7.jersey.juno.com [64.136.16.57])
        by m2.jersey.juno.com with SMTP id AAA7K7YEUAG2EQFS
        for <apikoyros (at) juno(dot)com> (sender
<owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>);
        Thu,  1 Mar 2001 18:17:38 -0500 (EST)
Received: from mx8.boston.juno.com (mx8.boston.juno.com [64.136.24.130])
        by mx7.jersey.juno.com with SMTP id AAA7K7YEUACH9W3S
        for <apikoyros (at) juno(dot)com> (sender
<owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>);
        Thu,  1 Mar 2001 18:17:38 -0500 (EST)
Received: from shamash.org (shamash3.shamash.org [207.244.122.42])
        by mx8.boston.juno.com with SMTP id AAA7K7YETA3EY3NS
        for <apikoyros (at) juno(dot)com> (sender
<owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>);
        Thu,  1 Mar 2001 18:17:37 -0500 (EST)
Received: (qmail 9674 invoked from network); 1 Mar 2001 23:17:57 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO shamash.org) (127.0.0.1)
  by shamash.org with SMTP; 1 Mar 2001 23:17:57 -0000
Received: (qmail 9628 invoked from network); 1 Mar 2001 23:17:45 -0000
Received: from f251.law11.hotmail.com (HELO hotmail.com) (64.4.16.76)
  by shamash.org with SMTP; 1 Mar 2001 23:17:45 -0000
Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
         Thu, 1 Mar 2001 15:17:10 -0800
Received: from 204.167.92.127 by lw11fd.law11.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; 
      Thu, 01 Mar 2001 23:17:09 GMT
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Sender: owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
Return-Path: <goobietheg (at) hotmail(dot)com>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2.09/990901/11:28 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN
Delivered-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
X-Originating-IP: [204.167.92.127]
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 01 Mar 2001 23:17:10.0110 (UTC) 
        FILETIME=[BDA0A7E0:01C0A2A5]
Message-ID: <F251IqtQvAauNjVuMhv00002cb5 (at) hotmail(dot)com>

  Ah yet another reason to not like Joan Baez


>From: "Robert Cohen" <rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com>
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: "Donna Donna"
>Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 21:00:24
>
>I think I can shed light on a few of the points (I'm catching up) raised
in
>connection with this song (which was indeed written by Aaron Zeitlin
with
>music by Secunda).
>
>Teddi Schwartz was (indeed) the co-composer (with Arthur Kevess; I think
I
>have the spelling right) of the most well-known translation--i.e. (see
>below), the one sung by Joan Baez.  I *think* it was from her--I met her
>once and asked her about the song--that I learned:
>
>*that Zeitlin (not Secunda, who just wrote the music) appropriated the
>syllable "Dona"--which I believe she told me he intended should be
>pronounced "Dunna," as in "gonna"--to resemble the sound (i.e., vocable)
of
>Polish peasants dancing.  That matches what Reyzl was told by her own
>excellent informant; and
>
>*that he--Zeitlin--was amused at all the speculation (beginning, I
gather,
>some time ago) regarding the "meaning" of the vocable--esp. in re the
>resemblance/allusion to a name of G*d.  It had no (such) "meaning" at
>all--at least, none that Zeitlin intended.
>
>Now:  How come the whole world--other than on knowledgeable Yiddish
>recordings--sings it "Doe-na Doe-na"?  ("Doe" as in a female deer, etc.)
>
>Well, this *is* the "folk process" at work--but as modifed,
substantially,
>by commercial media:  specifically, the phonograph.
>
>When Joan Baez was shown the song--I am almost certain in a printed
>version--by a Boston-area folkie, she evidently decided it should be
>pronounced "Doe-na"--and that's how she said it.
>
>Her first album, on which "Donna Donna" appeared, was the
largest-selling 
>LP
>by a woman singer in history to that date (since exceeded by Carole King

>and
>subsequently by Madonna and who knows now).  Solely, I think, as a
result 
>of
>that record--I don't think Bikel really had much to do with it--the song
>went around the world, appearing in countless songsters and collections,
>sung in coffeehouses, at camps and campfires, among adults and teens,
etc.,
>etc., etc.  (Teddi Schwartz showed me a letter from Joan's office
thanking
>her for the translation and advising her that the song was the single
most
>requested song of Joan's [!] in Europe.)
>
>So people (other than knowledgeable Yiddishists, mind you, but including
a
>lot of them too, when they're singing in adult camps and other
>settings--I've heard them) sing "Doe-na" because that's the way Joan
sang
>it.  Purely and simply.
>
>Hope that's illuminating and ties up some loose ends.
>
>--Robert Cohen
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com


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


<-- Chronological --> <-- Thread -->