Yiddish Song: Mein Shtetl Belz, 1928

[Patpoussin]

Farewell , affecting past !

Farewell for ever !

It is definitely the best rendition of this very well known nodtalgic Yiddish song.

All my thanks.

[cjprentiss1]

This is probably Seumour Rexsite, who was one of the first performers to introduce this song.

[cantorart]

Sung by a young Seymour Rexsite.

[OldSkoolThrasher666]

such a sad and beautiful song.....thanks for sharing it

[christophleclerc14]

זה שובר את לבי. העולם של סבא וסבתא שלי מתה

[Hornochse87]

nä watt schön

[MrMoshe23]

Stunning! Old history!

[mikestrat56]

My history. My people.

[encee1000]

This is so beautiful, thanks for putting it up.

[theluckyjen5]

Beautiful, but never to come back. We must try to make them still live in our hearts so it will never happen again to anyone.

[iliv2bhap]

i'm looking for the COMPLETE lyrics to the song

[malkalaustriat]

j'aime bien cette musique même si c'est pas la meilleurs interprétation...

oh beltz...

courage ou bien nostalgie sanglotante?

j'hesite!

mein schteitele beltz...

[irapweiss]

This song was written in 1926 in New York by Alexander Olshanetsky for the movie "The Cantor's Son" starring Moishe Oysher.

[HAZIDEAD]

@irapweiss, you mean 1937

[frektman]

this song was written for Isa Kremer. She was born in Beltz , Bessarabia ( Moldova now ). Isa was very famous at her time ( at 20-s).

[AlwaysHaveAlwaysWill]

Sorry about the multiple removed comments. Lots of typos, and I need to learn to proofread before I post so that I do not have to keep removing bad typing. Continuing from my other two posts... A good contemporary Yiddish singer is Adrienne Cooper, whom you can find right here on YouTube. She sings a lot of the old songs, too. Finally, I found the Seymour Rexsite interview I mentioned, Rexite being the singer in this video. Search for Seymour Rexsite in "Chorus" on YouTube.

[AlwaysHaveAlwaysWill]

Sorry. I could not fit it all in my first post. @Gweilojake: Amazon, iTunes, and eBay all feature wonderful CDs of early and contemporary Yiddish vocals (even 78 rpm records on eBay). Here in New York, The Workmen's Circle has a Yiddish bookstore with Yiddish music on CDs for sale. Look on line for them. @All the Yiddish speakers: Ikh hob lib dos lid. A grus in der heym un zayt gezunt! (Translation: "I love the song. Greetings to you and yours-- and be healthy!")

[AlwaysHaveAlwaysWill]

@DerLiedmeister: The singer is Seymour Rechtzeit (also spelled Rexsite or Rexite). Use all three spellings when doing a Google search. He was a famous singer on New York's Second Avenue at the height of the Yiddish Theater era. There is a wonderful short film of his last interview, made a few days before his death in 2002. His songs are available--even on iTunes. @Patpoussin: Anch'io sono goy, ma sono americano e non francese. (Translation: "I'm a goy too, but I'm American and not French.")

[borowikanatol]

nice

[Gweilojake]

Where can I find this and other early 20th Century recordings of Yiddish vocals?

[DerLiedmeister]

A shayne lid! I would love to know who the singer is...does anybody know?

[albasulmare]

una delle mie preferite....

[Patpoussin]

@ albasulmare

È anche una delle mie preferite, è anche una di queste che mi fa più male .... ed io sono goy e francese. Nessuno è perfetto :-)

[Romanisipunctum]

Balti is a city in Republic of Moldova, fomerly the Besserabia region of Romania.

The song is part of the Romanian nostalgic musicology style called "Doina", reminiscing on the happier times of (in this case) Romanian-Jews in the country of origin.

Please also see Rumania Rumania, and Besserabia composed and performed by Jewish diaspora musicians in Yddish, with Romanian folkloric overtones.

[AmHaArez31]

Is there somebody who knows where i can get a picture "over the book" from Avraham Stein?

Everytime if i see it, my heart is getting warm.

I google and google but i find nothing.

Thanks a lot and shalom!

The sound is perfekt;o)

Kobi

[ladtheimpaler]

BRAVO! Mazel tov!

[buddmar]

The "unknown" or "folk" paintings - such as those at 0.30 and 2.35 were actually painted by the Jewish artist Meyer Kirshenblatt of Poland, who emigrated to Canada. I saw the originals a few months ago at the Jewish Museum in New York City. He is also known as as "Meyer July."

[Cantormatis]

Yes, it is definately rextsite. But the composer is Alexander Olshanetsky for second avenue yiddish theater. this is not a folk song.

[k9ahura]

Rechtzeit was born in 1908 in Piotrkow and emigrated in 1920 with his father and brother, leaving the mother, sisters and brother in Poland. Quotas prevented them from emigrating. Young Shajele sang for President Calvin Coolidge who was so moved by the child prodigy that visas were granted. He was president of the Hebrew Actors Union. He died.Oct. 14, 2002. I attended his funeral at Riverside Funeral Home in NYC.

[k9ahura]

Seymour Rexite (Rechtzeit)

[hakmirchai]

Tell me old man ... how does my home look that once glistened, the tree that I once planted. The house is now old, overgrown with moss, The roof has collapsed, the walls are bowed, you would not even recognize it.

Belz, my little village Belz,, where I grew up and laughed with the kids and had my dreams. My home Belz.

[JoseEduardoNZ]

Are these the lyrics?SoO_o beautiful, I've just closed my eyes & I can see Belz through the wide open window.I see busy people doing their daily chores.There's a bakery just across the road & the sweet aroma of freshly baked bagels reminds me,it is 1940 & the future seems so uncertain.A basket full of bagels that's what I shall bring along on my way to Warsawa.

[ferreirarodovalho]

lyrics any one??

[mordechai7215]

The uncredited Polish painter @ the 2:45 mark is a painting by Chassidic Painter Zalmen Kleiman - of Russian extraction . . .

[Georgewos]

I always love to listen to this song. I just looked at all Your videos. How did You find so many old American songs from the 20's. My mother was born in Southern Poland, and too bad when She was alive We didn't have YouTube becaue I know She would have loved listening to Your videos of the Polish music.

[buddmar]

Lovely! The best rendition of this sweet,nostalgic Yiddish song on YouTube, in my opinion. Beautiful images,too.

[agneyvefunb]

PS

it is possible to read on-line the Piotrkow Trybunalski's "Yizkor bukh / Holocaust Memorial book" at NY public library site.

this book has "parallel" texts in Hebrew and Yiddish, and was published in Tel-Aviv in 1965

[secondcity11]

I'm not very educated in your field of music but every now and then i visit your channel and come across gems like this!.....beautiful.

[agneyvefunb]

thank you

ps

were was Yiddish theater in Piotrków Ghetto. i'm trying now to obtain more info about it

[agneyvefunb]

1) the date when this record was issued i got from YIVO (Institute for Jewish Research). unfortunately, i have no chance to check it

2) sorry :) but this song dedicated to Bessarabian Beltz. next is a small quote from operetta's review:

The incoherent text supplied by William Siegel concerns itself with the pathetic love hunger of a fledging orthodox rabbi of a small Rumanian town for his childhood cousin, Mirele, now a feted singer in Berlin and popularly known as Marytza.

3 Oct, 1932

[agneyvefunb]

and the last :)

i have no explain, but Rechtzeit, during his life, had recorded, at least, 4 renditions of "mayn shtetele Beltz"

[agneyvefunb]

the record we speak about was issued on Victor V-9069-B, approx. in 1940

another funny thing that Rechtzeit WAS in the "Dos lied fun geto" cast! :)

BTW

Rechtzeit was born in Pietrikow (sorry, but i'm not sure that spelling is correct), near Lodz

he was the last president of Hebrew Actors Union in USA

[agneyvefunb]

no :(

the song was written by Jacobs-Olshanetsky for operetta "Dos lied fun geto / The song of ghetto" in 1932

originally it was DUET, sang by Isa Kremer and Leon Gold (Goldvag)

operetta was written especially for Isa, but (it's funny) Gold was born in Bessarabian Beltz too :)

[agneyvefunb]

i had scanned a very short article from Zalmen Zylberzweig "Lexicon of Yiddish Theater" about Jewish theater in Piotrków Ghetto

of course, its written in Yiddish

unfortunately, my English is poor, so i'm trying now to find someone who can translate it as needed

[dzheger]

" Belz, my little town Belz, my little home where I spent my childhood years... where I had the most beautiful dreams...Have you ever been to Belz?" One of the most beautiful and most popular Yiddish songs ever written. Thanks, too, for the splendid show of the Polish-Jewish paintings.

[Georgewos]

I have a cd called Mazel Tov! More music of the Jewish People. credits say (Jacobs/Oshanetsky,Seymour Rechtzeit,vocal)

[yiddishtheater]

I am not a specialist (well, maybe I am?) but I think the singer is Seymour Rechtzeit, and the clarinetist is Dave Tarras.

Thank you !

[barbcard]

A tour de force! Makes me laugh and cry at the same time. The carriage in the sky suggests Chagall, but it can evoke any dreamer(luftmensch) of the old shtetles. Wonder what David will say...

[WandaStan]

Nieznane wykonanie, ciekawe, także muzycznie. No a film - więcej takich poproszę. Inteligentny, reżyser wie, co chce powiedzieć. Takich mi brakuje na YT,bez przerwy tylko serduszka, jak nie przebite strzałą, to złączone. Za mało dokumentu. Dziękuję za tę wersję..

[a5g4]

Tak się właśnie zastanawiałem czy masz jakieś nagranie międzywojenne o tematyce świątecznej... święta idą. Czy może być lepszy czas żeby takie nagrania umieścić?

Pozdrawiam!

[tango3721]

I love the arrangement and the tenor is superb - in my opinion. The uncredited artwork on 2:42(the horse driven carriage in the sky) moved me a lot. It was my dad's favorite songs - he had a beautiful tenor voice - as well. Thanks a million!

[genia106]

Grzegorz, I love that slow Klezmer clarinet and the singer's (?) plaintive vocal and the wonderful art. This "Mein Shtetl Belz" is ein Diamant!