For many years now, I have been constantly asked about what “hava nagila” is. What is the meaning of it, who wrote it, etc. I constantly have to dispel the most fantastic legends around this song - and the fact that the Maccabees sang it, hitting their enemies on the heads; and the fact that this is a special wedding drinking song, to which at least three glasses of alcohol are supposed to be drunk in a row according to ancient Jewish tradition...
It’s time to finally make one universal entry with answers - to which we can send the multitudes of those who are mistaken.
There lived such a man Abraham Zvi Idelson at the beginning of the 20th century in Latvia. He was a young cantor and sang in the synagogue. Then something hit him in the head, and he went to wander the world, collect and record Jewish folklore (especially since the Austrian Academy of Sciences helped him a lot in this), wandered around Europe, the Middle East, climbed all the way to South Africa, eventually settled naturally in Jerusalem. Then the First World War broke out. Idelson collected equipment and went to war as part of the Turkish army - for it was Turkey that owned the Holy Land at that time - he led the regimental orchestra. Three years later, the war ended, Idelson returned home to Jerusalem, where everything changed in a pleasant way. The Turks left Palestine to the British, the Balfour Declaration was created and promulgated - on the right of the Yishuv (Jewish settlement) to self-determination. On these occasions, an unprecedented festive concert was being prepared in Jerusalem - both in honor of the end of the war, and in honor of such glorious Jewish inventions. Idelson, as the master of notes, tinkered with this concert to the fullest - he led the choir, compiled the program, rehearsed until late. And at some point he was faced with a problem - that there was no good ending for this concert. You need a song, something new and bright, so that you remember it. Let's rejoice All. These words never changed again. It happened in 1918 in Jerusalem. The melody “Hava Nagila” acquired its familiar sound somewhere in the 30s of the 20th century - thanks to a wave of Jewish immigrants from Romania who grew up on the culture of fiery Romanian dances. The song took on a syncopated dance rhythm and became faster. A little later, a kind of rhythmic consensus emerged - “Hava Nagila” begins slowly, with respect for traditions, and then accelerates into wild dancing. Interesting fact. Soon after Idelson died in 1938, the author of “Hava Nagila” was unexpectedly “found” - a certain Moshe Natanzon, who claimed that it was he who wrote the most famous Jewish song. The piquancy of the situation was further aggravated by the fact that Natanzon was Idelson’s student in the choir during the events described in 1918. At least, according to Natanzon's version, Idelson gave the task to his students to write words for this tune - and the best one written (it is clear whose) he chose as the words for that concert final song. In Israel they somehow didn’t really believe him, but he somehow convinced the Americans - and soon after his statement he left there for permanent residence as a promising singer of folk songs. |
Under pressure from the enlightened public - update: original text and mp3 collection
So in Hebrew it is written like this:
הבה נגילה
הבה נגילה
הבה נגילה ונשמחה
הבה נרננה
הבה נרננה
הבה נרננה ונשמחה
עורו אחים
עורו אחים בלב שמח
Transcribed it sounds something like this:
Hava nagila, hava nagila
Hava nagila venis"mecha
Hava neranena, hava neranena
Hava neranena venis"mecha
Uru, uru achim
Uru achim belev same"ach
Now as for listening to the eyeballs.
27. opera singer, known for his wide repertoire across all times, genres and peoples. Havanagila is on his Blue Disc, where, among other things, there are etudes by Chopin and Ave Maria. 3.3M
Anatoly Pinsky recently found a rarity - a version of the havanagil in Yiddish. The meaning there is not very different from the original:
Brider, lomir zikh freyen
lomir zikh freyen
Oy, lomir lustik zayn!
Ineynem freylekh zayn,
Tzuzamen lustik zayn!
Briderlekh, idelekh
Freylekh zol zayn!
Zingt, tanzt, freyt zikh ale,
S"iz bay undz a groyse simkhe
S"iz bay undz a groyser yomtev,
Likhtik iz oyf der neshome
Az derlebt shoyn di nekhome,
Briderlekh, zingt,
Briderlekh, tanzt,
A simkhe iz bay undz haynt!
Update from 05/11/09
I do not post more and more new variants of havanagila that readers send me. If you are interested, you can search through the comments and find them all there.
But what’s really interesting is this slideshow with illustrative material for this article:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26577116@N04/sets/72157605304880455/show/
Update from 05/27/09
Appeal to readers who are strongly interested in the topic.
I will be glad if any of you have the strength and desire to collect all the links to the variants of Chava Nagila scattered in the comments. Then it will be possible to make a full update of the post.
Update from 01/13/12
So no one had time to collect links from the comments. It's a pity.
Now I came across this option. Somewhat startling.
For many years now, I have been constantly asked about what “hava nagila” is. What is the meaning of it, who wrote it, etc. I constantly have to dispel the most fantastic legends around this song - and the fact that the Maccabees sang it, hitting their enemies on the heads; and the fact that this is a special wedding drinking song, to which at least three glasses of alcohol are supposed to be drunk in a row according to ancient Jewish tradition...
It’s time to finally make one universal entry with answers - to which we can send the multitudes of those who are mistaken.
There lived such a man Abraham Zvi Idelson at the beginning of the 20th century in Latvia. He was a young cantor and sang in the synagogue. Then something hit him in the head, and he went to wander the world, collect and record Jewish folklore (especially since the Austrian Academy of Sciences helped him a lot in this), wandered around Europe, the Middle East, climbed all the way to South Africa, eventually settled naturally in Jerusalem.
There he came across special Hasidim who called themselves Sadigura - named after the town of Sadigura in Ukraine, from where they came to the Holy Land. Idelson diligently recorded their folklore - mostly these were melodies without words, as is often the case among Hasidim.
It was there that he came across this melody in 1915. It is possible that the Hasidim themselves wrote it - without knowing musical notation, they were collectors, curators, and writers. But now the accepted theory is that this melody was created by an unknown klezmer (wandering Jewish musician) somewhere in Eastern Europe no earlier than the middle of the 19th century. In unimaginable ways, the melody reached the Hasidim, and they gladly picked it up, because they highly valued such things.
I must say that this was not yet quite the melody that we know now. She had a slightly different rhythm, smoother and slower. More likely, even somewhat meditative (Hasidim, they are like that, they love everything meditative :)
Then the First World War broke out. Idelson collected equipment and went to war as part of the Turkish army - for it was Turkey that owned the Holy Land at that time - he led the regimental orchestra. Three years later, the war ended, Idelson returned home to Jerusalem, where everything changed in a pleasant way. The Turks left Palestine to the British, the Balfour Declaration was created and promulgated - on the right of the Yishuv (Jewish settlement) to self-determination. On these occasions, an unprecedented festive concert was being prepared in Jerusalem - both in honor of the end of the war, and in honor of such glorious Jewish inventions. Idelson, as the master of notes, tinkered with this concert to the fullest - he led the choir, compiled the program, rehearsed until late. And at some point he was faced with a problem - that there was no good ending for this concert. You need a song, something new and bright, so that you remember it.
Idelson began to delve into his folklore pre-war papers - and dug up this nameless Hasidic chant. He was terribly happy and sat down to scribble edits right into the drafts.
First of all, he divided the motif into four parts. I wrote an arrangement for a choir, for an orchestra... Then I scratched the back of my head for a while and quickly jotted down the words that came to mind. So that it is unpretentious, fun and tasty. The result is the following:
Let's rejoice
Let's rejoice and be glad!
Let's sing!
Let's sing and have fun!
Wake up, brothers!
Wake up, brothers, with joy in your hearts!
All. These words never changed again. It happened in 1918 in Jerusalem.
The concert turned out to be wonderful, the final song became a hit not just for a long time, but for the entire further history of Jewish music to this day :)
The melody “Hava Nagila” acquired its familiar sound somewhere in the 30s of the 20th century - thanks to a wave of Jewish immigrants from Romania who grew up on the culture of fiery Romanian dances. The song took on a syncopated dance rhythm and became faster. A little later, a kind of rhythmic consensus emerged - “Hava Nagila” begins slowly, with respect for traditions, and then accelerates into wild dancing.
Interesting fact. Soon after Idelson died in 1938, the author of “Hava Nagila” was unexpectedly “found” - a certain Moshe Natanzon, who claimed that it was he who wrote the most famous Jewish song. The piquancy of the situation was further aggravated by the fact that Natanzon was Idelson’s student in the choir during the events described in 1918. At least, according to Natanzon's version, Idelson gave the task to his students to write words for this tune - and the best one written (it is clear whose) he chose as the words for that concert final song. In Israel they somehow didn’t really believe him, but he somehow convinced the Americans - and soon after his statement he left there for permanent residence as a promising singer of folk songs.
Under pressure from the enlightened public - update: original text and mp3 collection
So in Hebrew it is written like this:
הבה נגילה
הבה נגילה
הבה נגילה ונשמחה
הבה נרננה
הבה נרננה
הבה נרננה ונשמחה
עורו אחים
עורו אחים בלב שמח
Transcribed it sounds something like this:
Hava nagila, hava nagila
Hava nagila venis"mecha
Hava neranena, hava neranena
Hava neranena venis"mecha
Uru, uru achim
Uru achim belev same"ach
Chava Nagila - Jewish song of joy
Few people know the Israeli anthem, but almost everyone knows the Jewish song “Hava Nagila,” which has become truly popular.
Based on materials from Igor Bely and Ze'ev Geisel (2005):
At the beginning of the 20th century, there lived and lived in Jerusalem the musician Abraham Zvi Idelson (1882 - 1938). And he loved to record the folklore of wandering Jewish musicians - klezmers. The First World War ended, following its results, Turkey left Palestine to the British, the Balfour Declaration (1917) was created and promulgated: “His Majesty’s Government is considering with approval the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will make every effort to promote the achievement of this goal ". And in 1918, British troops entered Jerusalem. On this occasion, an unprecedented festive concert was being prepared in the holy city. Idelson prepared this concert - he led the choir, compiled the program, and rehearsed until late. And at some point he was faced with a problem - that there was no good ending for this concert. We need a song, something new and bright, so that everyone remembers it. Idelson began to delve into his folklore pre-war papers - and dug up this nameless Hasidic chant, processed it and sketched out words suitable for the moment. “Hava nagila” meant “Let us rejoice.” The concert turned out to be wonderful, the final song became a hit not just for a long time, but throughout the entire history of Jewish music to this day.
So, in Hebrew the lyrics of the song are written as follows:
It sounds something like this in Latin transcription:
Hava nagila, hava nagila
Hava nagila venis"mecha
Hava neranena, hava neranena
Hava neranena venis"mecha
Uru, uru achim
Uru achim belev same"ach
Listen to the original song from Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6eH3n4lUIM
And now my equirhythmic translation into Russian:
Hava Nagila - Hava Nagila,
Rejoice people, rejoice people.
Rejoice, people, a dream has come true.
Sing songs, my people, sing songs, my people,
Sing songs, my people, a dream has come true.
My brother, my brother, get up
Brother, get up, fun awaits us.
Brother, get up, fun awaits us.
Brother, get up, fun awaits us.
My brother, get up, fun awaits us.
__________________
Reviews
Thank you very much for providing the translation!
These seem to be simple words that are repeated. but the power of music makes it a leading hymn. It contains passion and joy, light and suffering. Everything seems to be mixed together. Well, just like in life. I love this song very much. If I hear it at events, my feet always dance on their own. Even if I’m walking around the city and I hear it, I can’t help myself....
Thanks again.
The daily audience of the portal Stikhi.ru is about 200 thousand visitors, who in total view more than two million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.
