“Krakovyake-vyane” Performed by Tsunye Rymer

Krakovyake-vyane
Mocking Yiddish song to accompany the
Polish dance Krakowiak

Sung by Tsunye Rymer,
recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1985 NYC
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

Krakowiak by Zofia Stryjeńska, 1927

Rymer sings:
Krakovyake-vyane
shtup aroys di pani.
Di pani tor men nisht shtupn.
Zets ir oys di tseyn.

Di tseyn tor men nit zetsn.
Dos ponim tor men nisht netsn.
(Rymer spoken) Un azoy vayter.

TRANSLATION of Rymer’s Version:

Krakoviake-vyane
Push out the lady.
You shouldn’t push the lady;
Knock out her teeth.

You shouldn’t knock out her teeth,
You shouldn’t soak the face.
(Rymer spoken) …and so on.

In the spirit of Purim this week, we present a parodic dance song. Tsunye Rymer sings this fragment of a Yiddish song to accompany the Polish Krakowiak dance. This particular tune is known as Krakowiaczek jeden. Here is a version on Youtube of this melody, which is considered a children’s song:

To read about the Krakowiak dance, costume and music click here.

The Krakowiak was a complicated dance and often someone had to lead the dance (אוספֿירן דעם טאַנץ) and call out the moves, so it makes sense that a Yiddish parodic text would be created. Mariza Nawrocka was kind enough to identify which Krakowiak Rymer sang and to translate the Polish song for us; here are the first two verses.

1. Krakowiaczek jeden / one Krakowiaczek (little habitant of Kraków)
   miał koników siedem, / had 7 horses
   pojechał na wojnę, / he went on a war
   został mu się jeden. / only 1 remained
2. Siedem lat wojował, / He was fighting 7 years
   szabli nie wyjmował,  /  he was not takeing out his sabre
   szabla zardzewiała,  / the sabre got rusty
   wojny nie widziała. / it didn’t see the war.

Though Rymer’s version is incomplete we can add more verses from other sources.

In I. L. Cahan Yidishe folkslider mit melodyes (NY YIVO, 1952) there are more stanzas and versions, originally Cahan had all of these versions under the category “Krakovyanke”. Attached at the end of this post are scans of the songs in Yiddish as published in Cahan. (Cahan1, Cahan2).

He did not publish any music with these texts:

From Chudnov, (YID – Tshidnev) Volhynia,Ukraine:

Krakoviak, herits,
Shtup aroys dem porets.
Az er vil nisht geyn
Zets im oys di tseyn!

 Krakoviatska ane,
shtup aroys di pani.
Az di pani vil nit geyn,
Hak ir oys di tseyn!  (#225, page 227)

From Brailov, (YID – Bralev) Podolya, Ukraine:

Yakov, yakov-yane,
shtup aroys di pani!
Di pani vil nit geyn.
Zets ir oys di tseyn!

Di tseyn tor men nit zetsn,
Dos ponim tor men nit netsn.
Azoy vi in Ades,
Azoy in Bukarest!  (#227, page 228)

From Priluk, (YID – Priluk)  Poltaver region, Ukraine:

Krako-krako-vyana,
Shlep arayn di pani;
Di pani vil nit geyn.
Shlep ir far di tseyn!   (#228, page 228)

From Bessarabia or Odessa:

From Zalmen Rosenthal’s collection in Reshumot vol. 2, 1926/27 in his category “Children’s Songs”

Nake, nake, nitse
shtup aroys di pritse.
Di pritse vil nit geyn.
Zets ir oys di tseyn.

Di tseyn tor men nit zetsn.
un dos ponim tor men nit netsn.

I. L. Cahan also considered a song about Beylke, though textually different and with no mention of Krakowiak, to be part of this parodic Krakowiak tradition. I assume he determined this by the melody. Versions of this “Beylke” Krakowiak song can be found in Cahan 1952, Bastomski 1923 and Tsaytshrift volume 2-3, Minsk, 1928.

Special thanks for this post to Mariza Nawrocka and  Paul Glasser.

From I. L. Cahan Yidishe folkslider mit melodyes (NY YIVO, 1952):

“Eykho” Performed by Clara Crasner

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

With this entry, we mark one year of the Yiddish Song of the Week blog. Thirty-two songs have been posted to date, and we hope to improve upon that number in the coming year. Once again a sheynem dank to Pete Rushefsky, Executive Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and our webmaster for this project of CTMD’s An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture, and to all of those who have submitted materials. Please spread the word and send us your field recordings of Yiddish songs!

I have never previously heard Eykho, a powerful pogrom-song written about the plight of the Ukrainian Jews who were escaping the pogroms in the Ukraine in 1919. In the Yiddish of this area, (see Sholem-Aleichem) the word „goy‟ refers specifically to a Ukrainian peasant. I believe Crasner means this in her song, but am not sure. In any case I find it remarkable that the song rhymes one of the holy names for God – „a-donay‟ with „goy.‟

In Eleanor and Joseph Mlotek‘s song collection Songs of Generation, they include a version of the song as it was adapted during the Holocaust (see pages 277-278 attached below). It differs textually from this version in most verses. Where I was not sure about certain words, I placed a question mark in brackets. For the last line of the refrain the Mloteks wrote „Re‘ey ad‘‟ [Look God!] I could not hear that in this version. She also sings here “Cast a glance at the Ukrainians‟ but in the Mlotek songbook it says “Cast a glance at the Jews.‟ But when she sings “Ukrainians‟ in this sentence, she means Ukrainian Jews.

„Eykho‟ is also the Hebrew name for the Book of Lamentations.  This is the first recording available of the song and it was made by Crasner’s son-in-law Bob Freedman. Cick here for more information about the singer, Clara Crasner.

Clara Crasner: I went I came over the border to Romania, and – You listening? and wanting to continue onto other towns – I had no passport, so I traveled with the impoverished ones from one …. Every day we were in a different town until I came to Yedinitz.
Bob Freedman: What year?
Crasner: 1919.
Freedman: Who is talking now?
Crasner: Clara Crasner, born in Sharagrod.
Freedman: Which territory?
Crasner: Podolya
Freedman: And the song?
Crasner: The song is from Bessarabia; Jews sang if for us from the Ukraine, describing how we felt upon arriving to Romania.

Farvolknt der himl, keyn shtral zet men nit,
Es royshn nor himlen, es regnt mit blit.
Es royshn di himlen, es regnt, es gist.
Karbones un retsikhes in di merderishe hent.

The sky is cloudy; no ray could be seen.
The skies are rushing, it‘s raining blood.
The skies are rushing, it‘s raining, it‘s pouring.
Victims and cruelties are in the murderer‘s hands.

REFRAIN

Eykho, vi azoy? Vos shvaygstu dem goy?
Vu iz tate dayn rakhmones, .A..[?} A – donay/
Fun dem himl gib a kik,
af di Ukrainer a blik.
Lesh shoyn oys dos fayer un
Zol shoyn zayn genig.

Eykho, how could it be?
Why are you quiet against the non-Jew?
Where, father, is your pity….A-donay.. [God]
From the heavens take a look
Cast a glance at the Ukrainians,
Extinguish already the fire and
let it come to an end.

Shvesterlekh, briderlekh fun yener zayt taykh,
hot af undz rakhmones un nemt undz tsun aykh.
Mir veln zikh banugenen mit a trukn shtikl broyt.
Abi nit tsu zen far zikh dem shendlekhn toyt.

Dear sisters and brothers from the other side of the river,
take pity on us and take us in.
We will be satisfied with a dry piece of bread.
As long as we don‘t see in front of us a shameful death.

REFRAIN

Kleyninke kinderlekh fun zeyer muters brist.
me shindt zey vi di rinder un me varft zey afn dem mist.
Altinke yidn mit zeyer grue berd,
zey lign nebekh oysgetsoygn mit di penimer tsu der erd.

Little children taken from their mother‘s breast.
are skinned as if they were cattle and thrown in the trash.
Old Jews with grey beards
are now lying stretched out with their faces to the ground.

REFRAIN

Undzere shvesterlekh, geshendet hot men zey azoy;
zey hobn nebekh zikh nit gekent oysraysn fun dem merderishn goy.
Vu a boydem, vu a keler, vu a fentster, vu s‘dort [?}
Dortn ligt der Ukrainer yid un zogt a yidish vort.

Our sisters were raped
they could not, alas, get free from the murderous non-Jew.
In an attic, at a window, wherever [?]
There lay the Ukrainian Jews and says a Yiddish word.

REFRAIN