Yiddish Curiosities: a library of wonderful but forgotten Yiddish songs from the late 1920s and after (includes Polish Jewish Cabaret). Have a listen!

I received an email this morning:

My mother taught me a yiddish song when I was a very young girl. The name was vie a heen zulich gayn (where can I go). I am now 73 years old and would love to teach it to my granddaughter

My correspondent has run up again the constant problem of Yiddish transliteration. The song she is looking for is, in standard YIVO orthography, Vu ahin zol ikh geyn. A brief web search turned up these variants:

Vi Ahin Zol Ich Geyn
Vi ahin zol aich gein
Vi Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn
Russian: Куда мне идти?

And I just found this one on ebay, Wie ahin soll ich gehn:



If you're interested in a discussion of Yiddish tango before, during, and after the war, see HolocaustMusic. There are dozens of wartime tangos.

This one was composed by Oskar Strock, with lyrics by playwright Igor S. Korntayer (Korn-Teuer), who died in Auschwitz.

The most famous rendition currently is by the Barry Sisters (whose songs are rarely found in searches using YIVO spelling). However I vastly prefer the version by Menashe Oppenheim:





My correspondent wanted the sheet music, Luckily for her, I wrote it all out about a decade ago when I was conductor of the Triangle Jewish Chorale and the song was requested for Yom HaShoah, Holocaust remembrance day. Here it is (with the harmonies, translation, etc):

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Lyrics after the jump:

Labels: emigration, persecution, yiddish performers