Hey Antoshe (Raysn: The Music of Jewish Belarus 2014)
The poem put to music in this song is the one by the Belarusian Yiddish poet Moyshe Kulbak (1896–1937). It is part of his 1922 epic Raysn (Belarus), a series of poetic sketches on multiethnic life in a village on Nieman river. Antoshe is an elderly peasant, the father of Nastassia, with whom the Jewish guy falls in love. In this song the listensiners are asking Antosha to g a song about the legendary times. lyrics Hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey Antoshe, tu a zung. Tu a klung af der bandure Shure, bure, mure, ture. Ot azey, hey, hey!
S’iz geven der krever Dukes Vays vi shney, vays vi shney, Hot er kinderlekh in palats, Tekhter tsvey, tekhter tsvey. Nor bam Dukes ba di ferd Hot gedint Dmitruk Skarulya Mitn nomen Shalopay…
Hey, hey, hey, hey, Hey, Antoshe, tu a zung, Tu a klung af der bandure, Shure-bure-mure-ture! Ot azey, hey, hey, ot azey, hey, hey.
S’iz gekumen vesne-tsayt, Brengt der boym di naye tsvayglakh. Brengt di shval dos shvebele, Un di tsoyg – di tsaygele, Un di ku – dos kelbele… Muuu… S’iz gekumen vesne-tsayt, Far di tekhterlekh di tsvey, Brengen zey aheym tsum Dukes, Inem fartekh tsu baystrukes… Vey, vey, vey, vey… Ot azey, hey, hey, ot azey, hey, hey.
Khapt der Dukes zikh tsum shverd Heyst der Dukes shpanen ferd, Un fun Kreve biz Mazhir, Un fun Zhetl biz Damir Yogn rayter un karetn, Leyfn lafer un shtafetn… S’iz in ergets nit geven, Nit tsu zen Dem rotseyakh Shalopay…
Hey, hey…
In di velder fun Krivitsh Voynt der gazlen Shalopay, Un der elter krever Dukes, Vays vi shney, Vays vi shney, Fort aleyn iber di pleynen, In dem riterlekhn prakht. Un er klingt mit di kley-zayen In der nakht, in der nakht… Hey, hey… Ot azey, hey, hey, ot azey hey, hey...
Hey, hey, hey, Hey, Antoshe, sing to us, play to us On the bandura, Ture-bure-shure-mure That’s the way, hey, hey!
There was a nobleman Dukes [‘doo-kes] of the Krevers, As white as snow, He had children in his palace, Two daughters, two daughters. But in Dukes’s stable Served a guy, Dmitruk Skarulya, By the nickname Shalopay*.
The beautiful springtime came. The tree brings new twigs, The swallow brings a yellow-beaked nestling, The dog brings home her puppies, And the cow brings a calf. The beautiful springtime came, For the daughters, two of them, So they’re bringing home to Dukes In the apron A couple bastards. Woe, woe, woe, woe!
The Dukes grabs his sharp sword, And he orders to harness horses. And from Krivia till Mazyr, And from Dziatlava till Damir, Hasting are the knights and carriages, And the messengers are running. No one has seen anywhere That bastard Shalopay.
In the woods of Krivich There lives the bastard Shalopay. And the elderly Dukes of the Krevers, With his hair white as snow, Is riding alone over the valleys, All dressed up in his knightly hauberk, And he’s clinking with his weapon In the night, in the night. Hey, hey… That’s the way, hey, hey! ___ *Shalopay — Scapegrace