bay dem shtetl (1925)
Zalmen Rozental. Yiddish folksong, Bessarabia.
performed by Alan Mills & Raasche.
key: C minor
mode: C D Eb F G Ab A Bb B
melody: l t d r m l'
form: strophic
meter: duple
English function names: tonic dominant
Tagg (modified): home counterpoise (away)
Riemann: t D7
Scale degrees: i V7
Chords: Cm G7 Cm
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Cm
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Cm G7 Cm
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Cm G7 Cm
|/ / |/ / |/ / |/ / |This is not klezmer, but as Yiddish song, it is klezmer-adjacent. It is and is not a folk song. It is a folk song because that's how it was intended and how it functions in the world. It is not a folk song because we know the composer, even though it was published anonymously. For me, knowing the composer is not a dealbreaker in terms of folk-song-status. But I do wonder if a song is less likely to be subject to the "folk process" when we know who wrote it. Perhaps the process has more to do with who is performing it and how, rather than who wrote it and why.
Less debatable is that this is a children's song, replete with funny pet names and animal noises — definitely listen to how committed Ruth Rubin is to the animal noises in her recordings below. I could imagine this song being acted out like a play-party, even though that specific concept is very much foreign to the culture of this song.
But other than the occasional funny noises, the lyrics simply describe life on a farm. So why the "sad" minor key? Ah, here's another good pedagogical purpose for you: We've got a nice counter-example to the oft cited major = happy/minor = sad dichotomy. To be fair, it happens often enough — that's why it's the conventional wisdom. But it's not universal, even in the cultures that are using Western-style tonality. If you are still in the beginning stages of learning to tell the difference between modes/tonalities/keys by ear and the happy/sad thing works for you, by all means, use what you need to. Just know that it's not always the case.1
other information: https://yiddishsongs.org/bay-dem-shtetl/ https://congressforjewishculture.org/people/776/Rozental-Zalmen-1892-March-19-1959
other recordings:
Ruth Rubin, Jewish Folk Songs, Smithsonian Folkways. C minor. Harmonized more imaginatively.
Ruth Rubin, YIVO Institute. D minor. Unaccompanied. https://ruthrubin.yivo.org/items/show/4711
Ben Zimet, Aux Sources du klezmer, MLP. E minor. Harmonized more extensively.
Preßburger Klezmer Band, Ot Azoy!, Slovak Klezmer Association. A minor. Distinctly non-traditional.
My go-to examples for debunking this are a) Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash — now, of course it's a blues, but it is accompanied by major-family chords and lyrically it is not happy; and b) Bus Stop by the Hollies — if it were in a major key, it would be a sappy Herman's Hermits song, but by putting it in a minor key, it's an earnest Hollies song.