Semer Ensemble @ 2016 Ashkenaz Festival - "Simchu bi Jeruschalajm/E’ise Pele"

Berlin's Semer Ensemble performs "Simchu bi Jeruschalaim/ E’ise Pele," September 4, 2016, Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto. The band returns to Toronto November 8, 2017. Info and tickets here: www.ashkenaz.ca...
"Simchu bi Jeruschalaim" was originally recorded on Semer Records by Mordechai Roth (B:1902, Buczyna, D: 1986, Tel-Aviv) with an orchestra conducted by Sigmund Petruschka (B: 1903, Leipzig- D: 1997, Jerusalem). "E’ise Pele" was originally recorded on Semer Records by Joseph Goland (B: 1907, Ukraine, D: 1974, Israel) with the Kulturbund Dance Orchestra conducted by Sigmund Petruschka.
This is a medley of two early Israeli dance songs. The first, "Simchu bi Jeruschaljm" (Rejoice in Jerusalem), was itself originally recorded in 1936 as part of a medley of Palestinian Horras by classical singer and chalutznik Mordechai Roth while on a concert tour which included a stop in Berlin. The lyrics are a paraphrase of the Book of Isaiah 66:10, while the music comes from the Hasidic tradition; Roth sings one of several known variants of this hora. Early Zionist settler and theater singer Joseph Goland sang E’ise Pele as one of 30 early Israeli songs recorded in a mammoth one-day session in March 1934. As no recording studio yet existed in Palestine, the recordings were made in Berlin with members of the Jewish Culture League Orchestra. E’ise Pele’s lyrics come from the poet Nathan Alterman (B: 1910, Warsaw, D: 1970, Tel Aviv) whose other well-known songs include "Shir Ha’emek" and "Layla, Layla"; the provenence of the tune is unknown.
The two exuberant horas are typical of the repertoire of the period in the way they combine older musical elements together with Biblical words or contemporary Hebrew lyrics to create something fresh and new.
From notes on the original recordings, prepared by Lorin Sklamberg for the Semer Ensemble's album "Rescued Treasure"
www.semerensemb...

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