PapalukCanada.

Canadian Folk Music Bulle-.t.i!l.=- 21 (3) :4-7.

Bennett, John. 1985. The fid-dler's heritage at Pangnirtung.

Canadian Folk Music Bulle-~ 19 (3) :32-35.

and unusual. But her musicworks very well where itcounts...among her friends andfamily.

At present, Papaluk lives in asouthern Canadian style housein Chesterfield Inlet, and hasa television and radio whichprovides a wide range of music.Her children listen to Nash-ville country music and rock &roll tapes from portable"ghetto-blasters".

I ~ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!IIIIIIIII!I

ETHNOMUSJCOLOCiY NEWS

Papaluk's repertoire appears tohave a largely midwestern NorthAmerican origin. This is inconflict with the results ofother studies (Bell, 1987; Ben-nett, 1985), which indicatedthat most of the Anglo-Inuitmusic originated from contactwith Scots, Newfoundland & NewEngland whaling ship crews dur-ing the early 1900's.

KJezkamp RepOR"Cby Judith Cohen

Yiddish Folk Arts programme,YIVO Institute for Jewish Re-search 1048 Fifth Avenue, NewYork, N.Y. 10028. Held in lateDecember, paramont Hotel,Parkside, N.Y., and in mid-August in California.

Affectionately known as"Klezkamp' " YIVO's YiddishFolk Arts Programme has beenrunning for five years. YIVOitself was founded in Vilna,Poland (now Vilnius, USSR) in1925, to document, catalogueand disseminate items relatingto Eastern European folk cul-ture. While music and danceare a large part of the pro-gramme offered, language stud-ies and crafts are featured aswell, covering a satisfyinglywide range of folk arts, folkin a fairly broad sense of theterm.

This study could not have beendone without the assistance ofDr. Harlod (Buster) Welch andcatherine Welch. They operateda Fisheries Research camp(saqvaqjuac) north of Chester-field Inlet, and MauriceKukkiak was hired as a fieldtechnician for several years.Papaluk and some of her 11children would often come tovisit the camp kitchen for tea.Buster & Cathy Welch have someof the Inuktutuk language, andthey helped obtain this infor-mation. The tapes were made ata camp party, and there is alot of noise, talking and sing-ing in the background. If any-one wants a copy of the tape,please send a blank 90 minutecassette.

I'd known about Klezkamp be-fore, through friends and col-leagues in New York, and thisyear, attracted by the pro-gramme as well as by the factchildren had their own super-vised activities, decided tosee what it was all about. Atimely, though unrelated, invi-

REFERENCES

Bell, Ian. 1987. The bigsqueeze, button accordians in

20 SUMMER 1990. THE BULLETIN

dian and several others)at various levels of expe-rience and expertise.Ensemble workTheory/arranging.

-

Dance: 'Sher. bulqar. frevlakhand other older-style dances,as well as contemporary Has-sidic and Simkha dance. Alldance classes used exclusivelylive music.

tation to lecture on Sephardicmusic in New York the same weekand the offer of a partialwork-study scholarship atKlezkamp put an end to my dith-ering, and December 24 found my" "three-and-three-quarters' ,-

year-old daughter Tamar andmyself strapped into a comfort-able van driven by Mikhl, aprofessor of linguistics andYiddish, along with Adrienne, asinger/actress who would teachmy song repertoire class;Sarah, her "almost-eleven-year-old" daughter and Margot,a West Coast klezclarinetist:heading up to the foothills ofthe Catskills to join the otherparticipants with whom we weretaking over a rambling old fam-ily-style kosher hotel.

others- folklore- Yiddish language classes- Yiddish film- East European paper-cut-

ting- Calligraphy- Special sessions with leg-

endary song collector/performerRuth Rubin; virtuoso clarinet-ist Andy Statman, and publisherand Hassidic music expertVelvel Pasternak.

The main courses offered couldbe grouped as follows:

Children: day-care style pro-gramme, split into two age lev-els, including arts and crafts,outdoor play, traditional EY=rimsh~il (Purim play) puppets:music.

Yiddish song:- traditional a capella song

and interpretation: in-tensive work on vocal pro-duction, ornamentation,contexts

- song repertoire: singingthrough an astonishingnumber of songs, with somebackground on each one;

- theatre song- choral group

Evenings- staff concerts- dance evenings- early Yiddish silent filmwith live music- open "cabaret", whereanyone could sign up to perform- informal music-making ses-sions

Book/recordinqs store with ir-resistable materials.

Music, dance and folkloreteaching staff included, be-sides the special sessions al-ready mentioned, Henry Sapoznik(Director general) and MichaelAlpert, both of Kapelve; ChanaMlotek, Zalman Mlotek, AdrienneCooper, Jill Gellerman, TobyBlum-Dobkin, Gerry Tenney; mem-bers of well-know performing

Klezmer instruments and en-sembles

(Klezmer: from klg zemer, He-brew, meaning "instrument" or"vessel" of song. Theklezmer was originally a musi-£ign, not a kind of music, buthas increasingly come to meanthe latter. Klezmorim is theplural (Hebrew), meaning"musicians". Klezmorim wereoften skilled in several reper-toires, and played profession-ally both within and outsideJewish communities.)

Instrumental classes(clarinet, trumpet, accor-

21THE BULLETIN, SUMMER 1990

had DQ numbers at all.)... Klezkamp

ensembles such as the KlezmerConservatory Band, Klezmatiks,Chicago Klezmer Ensemble, JoelRubin ensemble; and tradition-bearers such as Ben Bayzler, arecent East European immigrantwho danced, drummed and sangindefatigably, and intimitably.

Besides the course content, andthe evening concerts (of which,for me, the highlight was themoving "Songs of the vilnaPartisans' " followed by astrong-voiced sing-a-Iong), amajor appeal of the week lay inthe real sense of community.There was, except for the ac-tual children's programme, noage segregation: participantsranged from babies to people intheir 70's or more, and age wasnot much of a factor in theendless circles of friendshipsforming and continuing. Not,of course, that it was all per-fect - how could it be? Therewere problems: over-schedulingwas to my mind the worst; en-sembles getting off to a slowstart because of placement dif-ficulties; some sense ofcliqueshness, though less thanmight be expected; and a fail-ure to warn parents in advancethat they were expected to giveup some class time to help withthe children's programme.still, even my tendencies to-ward cynicism and lifelong am-bivalence (at best) to beingpart of a large group were moreor less dissolved by meetingdroves of like-minded, friendlypeople in the context of awarm, relaxed community - andin, for me, a thoroughly un-likely setting: just the kindof place my aunts and unclesused to go for their vacations.

For those interested, there areseveral good songbooks avail-able, especially those by ChanaMlotek (Mir Trogen a Gesang andPearls of Sonq; also We areHere! (Holocaust songs); andby Ruth Rubin (Jewish Folksonqsin Yiddish and Enqlish, Treas-ua of Yiddish Folksonq) andthe 4-volume Vinkovetsky an-thology available in may li-braries. Many of the late So-viet ethnomusicologist Bere-

I concentrated on the song anddance courses. Adrienne's songrepertoire class included many"composed" songs which havebecome part of the Yiddish folktradition, and complementedMichael's intensive workshop onsinging style. with some hesi-tation, I also took a few ini-tial steps toward reviving mylong-neglected clarinet tech-nique and metamorphosizing theclassical training into klezmerstyle. "Yiddish dance" in-volved steps similar (thoughstylistically different), tosome Eastern European circledances, and to Western Europeanset dances: executing thesefamilar figures to live klezmermusic resulted, at least forme, in a quite engaging senseof displacement... I sat in,when possible, on Ruth Rubin'sunique sessions on Yiddishsong, and heard most of Andy'sand Velvel's special presenta-tions. Also worked in thebookstore, sang for cabaret andspent the last few hours ofevery evening singing or lis-tening with a sleeping childslung across my shoulder. (DidI sleep? Well, probably noless than most others. Infact, along with may others, Iliterally did not step out-of-doors between arrival and de-parture. We got our exercisetrying to find rooms in a madlyincoherent "system" whereroom 5 might be just above room341, room 20 a la-minute dashaway from room 30, and theclassrooms with colourful names

22 SUMMER 1990. THE BULLETIN

govski' scholarly transcriptions of both songs and instrumentalmusic are available in Mark Slogin's translation/edition of hiswork, entitled Old Jewish Folk Music~ a short practical manual isHenry Sapoznik's The Compleat Klezmer. Song recordings includeRuth Rubin's albums (Folkways re-issues availaBle from Rounder Rec-ords) and solo a capella records by traditional singers Mariam Ni-renberg and Lifshe Schaechte-Widman, distributed by Global VillageMusic (Box 2051, Cathedral Station, New York 10025). Global alsodistributes and/or produces re-issues of ealy klezmer recordings~besides these, look for Klezmer Music... 1910-1927 (Folklyric9034). Contemporary bands include those mentioned above, as wellas Zev Feldman and Andy Statman's wonderful record featuringtsimbl, the Eastern European Jewish hammered dulcimer, clarinet andmandolin (Shanachie label). If you would like more detailed infor-mation, please write to me c/o the Bulletin.

Meanwhile, here is a transcription of Ale Brider, a poem whichgradually entered the Yiddish folksong repertoire, in an alteredversion. Verses to it were often added extemporaneously~ this isthe version we sang, plus an English and a French verse which I'veadded. Enjoy!

Ale BriderFolklorized version of Akhdes ("Unity"), a poem by Moris Winchevshy(1856-1932).Transcribed by J. Cohen from Klezkamp 1989 sessions

Un mir zaynen ale eynik, oy, oy, ale eynikTsi mir zaynen fil tsi veynik, oy oy oy!Un mir libn (pron. libm) zikh dos ale, oyoy zikn dos alevi a khosn mit a kale, oy oy oy!

23THE BULLETIN, SUMMER 1990

Ale Brider

3. Un mir zaynen ale shvester, oy oy ale shvesterazoy vi Rokhl, Rus un Ester, oy oy oy.Un mir zaynen freylekh munter, oyoy freylekh munterzingen lider, tantsn unter, oy oy oy!

Sinqable Enqlish and French versions: (J. Cohen)

We are sisters, we are brothers, we are sisters, brothers,We are family to each other, young and old.singing happy songs together, happy songs together,dancing, singing all together, day and night.

Et nous sommes des soeurs, des freres, des soeurs et des fr~resU-ne grand' famill' entier-e, frer's et soeurs.Chantons, dansons tous ensemble, tous, tous, taus ensembleChantons la vie et la joi-e, nuit et jour.

(Translation: We are brothers, sing happy songs! stick together,few or many, love as bride and groom! sisters like Rachel, Ruth,Estheri happy cheerful, singing, dancing aloong.)

Pron: NB: i: Eng. bggri e (eg~): Eng. pgt, Fr. ei ay: E.gyei ey: E. pgyi kh: guttural lo£hi s: §i§teri r: rolled or inback of throat, nQt English r.

Accompaniment: NB 2: sing a capella; or with accordeon, guitar,piano, fiddle, trumpet, clapping, etc. But mostly voices!

Note to Follow:

Jewish music activities: Klezmerfans should note the presence of theWinnipeg group Finjan, Toronto'sFlying Bulgars and Floralove Katz'sottawa group. Those interested inJudeo-Spanish song should know aboutMontreal's Moroccan Jewish ensembleGerineldo. And Southern ontariomembers, please note the recent es-tablishment of the Jewish Music So-ciety of Toronto, whose 1989-90 sea-son included the Boston Jewish fu-sion group Safam; Gerineldo; a pro-gramme of new Jewish music and danceworks; a children's programme andPhilip Bohlman's lecture on "Musicof the German-Jewish Community' '.Information about membership andsubscriptions: The Jewish MusicSociety of Toronto (JMST) , TorontoJewish Congress, 4600 Bathurst st.,Toronto, ontario M2R 3V2.

24 SUMMER 1990, THE BULLETIN

Judith Cohen, a member of Gerineldo and of the JMST Board of Direc-tors, is continuing the research on Judeo-Spanish music which wasthe subject of her doctoral dissertation, and beginning research onother Jewish music traditions in Canada, in part for a course on"Musics of the Jewish People" at the Royal Ontario Museum and atUniversity of Toronto's School of continuing Studies. She wouldwelcome any information about tradition-bearers, performers andresearchers of any sort of Jewish music in C'anada, past, present orin planning stages. Contact her through the Bulletin or at 751Euclid Avenue, Toronto M6G 2V3i (416) 533-2666.

A-R Editions...

announces its new series, Recent Researchers in the Oral Tra-ditions of Music general editor Philip Bohlman. The first volume,Ethiopian Liturqical Chant (Kay Kaufman Shelemay and Peter Jef-fery) , should be out within two years. Other projected volumes areIsraeli Folk Music: Sonqs of the Earlv pioneers (Hans Nathan); .ThgFolk-Sol1as of German- and Yiddish- spea~inq Jews (otto Holzapfel &Philip Bohlman); Sound of the Seven-strina zither of China (BellYung). Prices will probably be in the $30 U.S. range, with addedprices for cassettes. For more information, contact Lila Aamodt,Manager, music publications; A-R Editions, Inc., 801 Deming Way,Madison, Wisconsin 53717; tel. (608) 836-9000; Fax (608) 831-8200.

%A week wit:b Soviet: Eskimo SingeR..s & DanceRs

by Nicole BeaudryUniversite du Quebec a' Montreal

Last July, on the occasion of the Drummondville (Quebec) FolkloreFestival, a group of ten Soviet Eskimo singers and dancers came toQuebec. After the Festival, they had planned to stay in Montrealfor another week during which Folklore Canada International tookcharge of their board and of some of their expenses. However, asin other years, the association required the help of volunteers asguides and resource persons for the different groups it hosted.One organizing member of the association, knowing of my researchinterests concerning Inuit music, asked me if I would agree tospend some time with the group from USSR. I admit I was a bit re-luctant at first, since this was a much needed holiday period and Iaccepted for just a few days. It didn't take long to feel thewarmth and friendliness of this group and I ended up spending thewhole week with them.

During this week the troupe named ERGIRON gave two public presenta-tions of their songs and dances, one here in Montreal and anotherin Quebec city and I was able to compare their traditions withthose I knew from researching Inuit music. On the one hand it wasclear to me that their drumming and dancing traditions were linkedwith those of Alaska and particularily the south west region where

25THE BULLETIN, SUMMER 1990

Soviet Eskimo Singers & Dancers

the Yupik people live. Those who are familiar with the Inuit cul-ture know that there is a difference between east and west (no po-litical pun intended!) musical traditions, and that the dividingpoint is in the area surrounding the MacKenzie Delta. It came asno suprise then to realize how different things were from centraland eastern Arctic traditions.

These differences were all the more apparent when we managed toorganize some meetings with Quebec Inuit. They tried to speak toeach other in their respective native tongues, but to no avail.They could not understand each other! The language barrier washardly a problem though because of their obvious friendliness andability to communicate with hands, eyes, smiles and many gestures.This transpired on many an occation while I was with them. I haverarely seen a group of people so quick to make friends and engagein interaction, no matter what language or ethnic background. Ev-eryone was pleasant and patient with them. Waiters, bus drivers,salesladies, you name it! and of course myself. I would like tothink that this was mostly due to Quebecers' sense of hospitalityand courtesy which of course is very real. However, this particu-lar group's countenance and simplicity played a great part in theway people perceived and accepted them.

Most members of this troupe live in Anadyr, an eastern Siberiantown of approximately 10,000 people named after the Anadyr Moun-tains and River which flows into the Bering Sea. The town is situ.ated just south of the peninsula of Chukotka, the section of Sibe-ria which is closest to Alaska, via Bering strait. In Chukotka,mainly two different ethnic groups live side by side, the Yuit (orEskimos) and the Chuckees. ERGIRON had members from both ethnicbackgrounds and the songs and dances they presented reflected bothethnic backgrounds. The older members of the troupe had beenraised in Chukotka where their parents still lived. Some of them,and especially the director of the troupe, were therefore quiteknowledgeable about the traditional musical and dance forms. How-ever, as they pointed out to me, it has been the custom in USSR tosend school age children away from their homes to centers wherethey receive their education, in Russian. The obvious consequenceto this was a partial loss of their native language and traditions.

Audio and video recordings were made of ERGIRON's Montreal presen-tation. In addition, it was possible for me to make two formalinterviews concerning their singing, dancing and drumming tradi-tions. Hopefully, it will be possible for me to show this videoand present what I have learned about their musical traditions atthe next meeting of the Society in Calgary next october. Butwhether I present this little bit of field material or not, I willforever remain grateful for having met and befriended such a de-lightful group of people.

~

26 SlIMMER 199n THF RII/IFT//V