Tumbalalaika

DESCRIPTION: Yiddish. "Shteyt a bocher un er tracht, Tracht un tracht a gantse nacht." He asks the girl, "What can grow without dew... What can dry and shed no tears?" She answers, "A stone, love, a heart." Chorus: Tumbala, tumbala, tumbalalaika...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950 (Rubin)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love riddle questions | Yiddish
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Ruth Rubin, _A Treasury of Jewish Folksong_, Schoken Books, 1950, pp. 58-59, "Tum-Balalayka" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Marianne Corbino, "Tumbalalaika" (Piotr-Archive #636, recorded 08/10/2023, English only; clearly derived from one of the modern recorded translations [the description that it is Russian is, simply, wrong])
NOTES [46 words]: The bit about what the heart crying without shedding tears is also a bit reminiscent of the riddles in the Swedish "Vem Kan Segla Förutan Vind? (Who Can Sail without a Wind?)." There are a few similar musical phrases, too. Hard to imagine how they could be connected, though. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RcTumbal

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