Donna Donna -Sophia Sebastian-

This song is a yiddish classic and it soothes my soul, altough...., as you will see below and from other youtubers'comments, it is in fact a political and religious song, depending on interpretation and song evolution...

"The author was Aharon Zeltlin, Yiddish playright, whose father was the rabbi, scholar, and prose writer, R. Hillel Zeitlin, who was murdered in Treblinka in 1942-1943. It was performed first on the Yiddish stage in NYC in 1943".

Wikipedia has comprehensive coverage on this song, including old and modern Yiddish, English, old and new versions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Donna

"The song speaks of the calf (man's material, bounded nature) bound upon a wagon (physical existence), and of the soul's need to escape this enslavement and express its freedom.
The calf is the animal soul= The body
The swallow is the divine soul= The Neshama
The Evil inclination leads the Body to the slaughter
The Farmer = Elijah or Moshiach comes and laughs at the exile the whole day and half the night and anounces the Redemption has arrived.

The body and soul must learn to fly together in the true and complete redemption".

What's your take on it?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• traditional

[AnkeZohm]

This touched my soul

[sophiasebastien]

@AnkeZohm

The haunting melody of Donna Donna. There is a reason why people always hum on the chorus... Glad you liked it and even more impressed I've reached something in you there..The history of the song is fascinating too..

Sophia.

[marcoacca]

Splendid...

[sophiasebastien]

@marcoacca

Hi Marco,

Now let's see what we can do to make the author of the adjective "Splendid" stop by and make a comment.. hahahaha.

[sophiasebastien]

@Mimiandjoaniebaez

aahh la voix de tête...contente que ça te plaise.

J'aimerais beaucoup entendre Noa reprendre cette chanson... Je crois que l'on a tous à mettre notre grain à cette chanson...