Lena from the Chasidim

[SamWeiss <SamWeiss...>]

The Klezmer tune "Nokh A Bisl" which -- as Lorin mentions -- contains the 
"Lena is the queen of Palestina" chorus, is described by Michael Alpert on 
the liner notes to BOW's first recording as "a tune known to at least a 
dozen nationalities in Eastern Europe and the Middle East by twice as many 
names".  One of these "nationalities" were the Chasidim, among whom this 
2-section "Rikud'l" was a standard.  The name of the tune is "Ashre Ayin" 
after the Yiddish/Hebrew lyrics "Ashre Ayin ver s'hot dos gezen" applied 
only to the repeated two bars of the second section (corresponding to "Lena 
is the queen of Palestina").  The words mean "happy is the eye that beheld 
it..." the enigmatic phrase perhaps referring to the wonders of the 
Rebbe.  (The text, BTW, is a contrafact of the refrain of a Piyyut in the 
Yom Kippur "Avodah" liturgy, referring to the eye that beheld the splendor 
of the Temple in Jerusalem.)

There also exists a Chassidically more characteristic 3-section version of 
the tune. Both variants appear in Vol. X (devoted to the music of the 
Chasidim) of Idelsohn's Thesaurus. They are #194 and #230, 
respectively.  The latter version, however, is found in the section devoted 
to satires of the Chasidim.  This is not unusual, since the majority of the 
Yiddish songs that parodied the Chasidic lifestyle employed authentic 
Chasidic nigunim.  Indeed, not only is the tune authentic, but the satire 
retains the phrase "Ashre Ayin ver s'hot dos gezen" in the appropriate 
melodic spot.

These facts may be relevant in understanding how the comic song "Lena From 
Palestina" came to use this particular bit of melody in its chorus.  It may 
have traveled (even if subconsciously, on the part of the composer) from 
satire to satire.

========================================
Lorin Sklamberg <lsklamberg (at) yivo(dot)cjh(dot)org>wrote:
>As you probably already know, the chorus ("Lena is the queen of 
>Palestina") can be found as part of the Klezmer tune Nokh a bisl (recorded 
>by Elenkrig's Orchestra and accordionist Mishka Ziganoff). There is also a 
>rendition by Simon Paskal in Yiddish (accredited to Louis Gilrod), and I 
>seem to recall at least one other version.
>
>Apparently this tune is originally called Colea in gradinita (thanks to
>Martin Schwartz), a Romanian song composed by Narcissi Ludovic Daus, with 
>known recordings in Romanian and Greek. YIVO has a Romanian version by S. 
>Bernardo.

_____________________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ

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