On the First Night of Chanukah: Two Tunes by P. Grancowa

As a collector and student of klezmer, there are two types of recordings that make my heart race with excitement: discs that contain tunes that I’ve never heard before, and those that introduce me to different versions of tunes I already know. During this holiday, we’ll be hearing both types, but to start things off, here is a Syrena Grand disc that includes two earlier European recordings of tunes we know from American releases.

The record features an orchestra under the direction of P. Grancowa. There doesn’t seem to be any information available about him, who he was or where he came from, and apart from a listing of 8 discs on the Syrena Grand label in Michael Aylward’s discography of European Jewish recordings and a sighting some number of years ago of several of these in an EBay listing, the recordings have remained a mystery.

The first side of this rare record is a tune entitled “Du zolst nit geren vus di mame vet dir zugen,” which translates roughly to “You won’t like what your mother will tell you.” The orchestra, which was recorded in June 1910, has prominent brass, a high clarinet and piccolo and intermittent clapping and is clearly working off an arrangement. But what is most interesting is the tune itself. An identical tune was recorded in New York in April 1913 on the Columbia label.

The Columbia recording featured Abraham Elinkrig’s ensemble, and the title was given as “Ich bank nach Odessa” (I long for Odessa). Elinkrig’s ensemble actually has a much less arranged sound than its European predecessor. While both feature prominent brass and woodwinds providing color, the musicians don’t play the same phrases and embellishments every repeat of the melody. And the person clapping is replaced with a snare drummer. However, both arrangements do share the dramatic break at the end of every chorus.

Having an earlier version of the Elinkrig tune was interesting, but what really made my heart beat faster was the other side of the Syrena disc, a tune entitled “Amerika”. One of my favorite tunes to play is Mishka Ziganoff’s “Odessa Bulgar” (Columbia 8019-F, recorded in New York, in February 1920. It’s a lively, two-section tune in the freygish mode.

When I first heard the Syrena recording, the tune was instantly recognizable, but the first half of the A section was in straight major rather than freygish, which was mind-blowing to me. Again, the ensemble is clearly playing a written arrangement, but that pales in comparison to hearing the transformation of that first section. There is also a very prominent snare drum which seems to drive the beat from the normal 2/4 square feel almost to a feeling of 6/8 dotted rhythm.

This is the first of three records of P. Grancowa’s ensemble that you’ll get to hear over the course of this holiday. But tomorrow, look forward to hearing a Syrena Grand recording by a Romanian Orchestra that is NOT Belf.

Khag sameaKh.

**Chanukah art from screen shots of the Menorah iPad app by RustyBrick, Inc.

TUNE OF THE MONTH: Mlody Bortnik

This month's tune is something a little bit different.  For one thing, there are no other recordings of it for comparison.  It's not even, strictly speaking, part of the Yiddish repertoire. But I think it will be very interesting for a number of reasons.

Let me begin by admitting that I have a certain fondness for polkas. When I was nine years old and wanting to sign up for band, my mother's cousin Seymour, who had played clarinet in an army band in WWII, took out his horn and played the Clarinet Polka for me, and I was mesmerized. It sounded like water splashing down a waterfall, and I knew I needed to be able to play like that.

"The Clarinet Polka" actually does have a Yiddish connection. Under one of its Polish titles, "Dyadushka,", Dave Tarras recorded it in the late 1950s with Murray Lehrer on volume 3 of Freilachs in Hi-Fi. The text on the sleeve says about this tune:

"The Clarinet Polka is a showpiece for Tarras' very live licorice stick. He has played it often under its original -- Dyadushka Polka (Grandfather's Polka).  If the granddads to whom it is dedicated can dance this breath-snatcher, more power to them and to Dave Tarras too, who though a granddad himself, can blow down many a younger man.  The trumpet's darker tones outline the Pierrot-like agility of the clarinet...."

That description of Tarras's playing applies equally to this month's tune, a polka that he wrote and recorded in 1920 called "Mlody Bortnik" (the Young Boarder). This was an exclusively Polish release on the Victor label. Tarras made a number of Polish releases, all billed as Instr. Kwartet Tarasiewicza.

What is special about this polka, and the reason that I chose to highlight it here, is that unlike most such tunes, its melody is modal rather than major in tonality, and it moves in very interesting ways between C freygish and F harmonic minor.

The polka begins with a four-bar intro that sounds like someone took a typical dance hall intro and klezmerized it.  

The cadence at the end of this intro, C maj - Bb minor - C major, is classic freygish, but when the actual tune begins, it is clearly in F harmonic minor.  It is an amazing, virtuosic melody that is pure Tarras, and classic F harmonic minor.  And he plays it purely, his notes clean and articulate, as befits a good polka.  Interestingly, despite the modal nature of the tune, Tarras's style includes none of the ornaments that give his Jewish playing its yidishn tam (Jewish flavor)

The second section again rests briefly in C freygish before moving back squarely into F minor.  The third section, a typical "trio" in F minor's relative major, Ab, offers no surprises but provides a nice contrast to the Eastern European modality of the main polka melody.

Tarras's exceptional playing contrasts rather dramatically with that of the the accordion player, who tends to express a somewhat simplified version of the melody and at times fumbles some of the modal runs.

 All in all, Mlody Bortnik would make a fine addition to any klezmer repertoire.

Downloadable versions of the complete chart and the Tarras recording can be found in the Resources section.