Re: Sarah Gorby query

[Joel Bresler <joel.br...>]

Hi, I have three of Gorby's LPs, and none of them say a darn thing about 
the artist. Here's what I know:

Born Sarah Gorbevitch about 1900 in Kishinev, Moldavia (Rumania/Bessarabia) 
(Can someone on the list explain Moldavia vs. Rumania vs. Bessarabia?)
Died August(?) 1980, Paris, France.

Professor Ellen Prince at UPenn met and studied Gorby. See: Prince, E 
(1987) Sarah Gorby, Yiddish folksinger: a case study of dialect shift. 
International journal of the sociology of language 67: 83-116. This inquiry 
has moved me to get a copy of the article -- Thanks! If anyone has it 
already, please share any biographic details.

Per private correspondence with Prof. Prince, the family is either dead or 
dispersed and not terribly knowledgeable about Ms. Gorby. (As of 12 years 
ago, there was a nephew still alive in Tel Aviv who had no records.)

Thanks!

Joel

P.S. See links below for more. Evidently, Gorby makes a lot of people start 
crying!

http://www.anti-rev.org/textes/Fresco84a/index.html

>`I've got a very old "78" that crackles so much it's now almost inaudible. 
>It's a song in Yiddish sung by Sarah Gorby. I don't understand Yiddish, I 
>don't know what the words mean, in fact I don't want to know. But whenever 
>I listen to that song, I start crying. It's always at one particular point 
>in the refrain, the tone of her voice becomes so sweet, so heartrending 
>that I seem to sink back into the memory of some old cradle song, which no 
>one ever sang to me--or that I've forgotten.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/features/1997/031897/Yiddish-Music.html

Penn Professor Ellen Prince can attest to that. She is chairperson of the 
linguistics department and is one of a small group of academics who have 
used Yiddish to examine wider theories of dialect and grammatical 
structure. In 1982 she heard a tape by an operatic singer named Sarah 
Gorby. Prince noticed that Gorby sang in a dialect peculiar to Romanian 
Jews, which was almost never used by performers outside that region. Prince 
was determined to find recordings by the singer.

At 11:45 PM 12/15/2002 +0000, you wrote:

>I received this query today - can anyone help Kim Jin Mook with
>information about Sarah Gorby?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Abigail
>
> > ---------- Original Message ----------
> >  From : ±èÁø¹¬(artjazz (at) empal(dot)com)
> >   To  : acw24 (at) hermes(dot)cam(dot)ac(dot)uk)
> >  Sent : Sunday, Dec 15, 2002 06:02 AM
> >  Subject : Sarah Gorby
> >
> > > Hello Abbi wood !!
> > >
> > > Thank you for your beautiful website.
> > > I am a music critic in Korea. Now I have my FM radio show.
> > > I love Sarah Gorby.
> > > Her music is so beautiful but I felt exquisite pain.
> > > But I don't have any information of her.
> > > One day I played her music and then many listeners want to know about 
> her.
> > > If you don't mind .. Please send the material for Korean music lover?
> > >
> > > Looking for your good answer soon.
> > >
> > > much love
> > > Kim JIn Mook
> > > artjazz (at) empal(dot)com
> > >
> > > gugakfm.com  or gugak.co.kr
> > > dayly 00:00 - 01:00
> > > Program Title : HANBAMEUI EUMAKNURI(Music world of Midnight)
> > > You can listen to my progam by internet.



Joel Bresler
250 E. Emerson Rd.
Lexington, MA 02420 USA

781-862-4104 (Telephone & FAX)
joel(dot)br (at) verizon(dot)net

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