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Oi Va Voi — S'brent
Album: Travelling The Face Of The Globe
Avg rating:
6.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1122









Released: 2009
Length: 3:50
Plays (last 30 days): 1
s'brent! briderlekh, s'brent!
oy, undzer orem shtetl nebekh brent!
beyze vintn mit yirgozn
raysn, brekhn un tseblozn,
shtarker nokh di vilde flamn,
alts arum shoyn brent!

un ir shteyt un kukt azoy zikh
mit farleygte hent.
un ir shteyt un kukt azoy zikh-
wi undzer shtetl brent!

s'brent! briderlekh, s'brent!
di hilf iz nor in aykh aleyn gevendt!
oyb dos shtetl iz aykh tayer,
nemt di keylim, lesht dos fayer,
lesht mit ayer eygn blut,
bavayzt, az ir dos kent.

shteyt nisht, brider, ot azoy zikh
mit farleygte hent.
shteyt nisht, brider, lesht dos fayer-
undzer shtetl brent!
Comments (65)add comment
As a Rammstein fan I immediately knew that something was burning. However I thought song is in Dutch, so similar 'h' pronunciation. 
There's also the "Salem" version "Haayara Boeret" and in Hebrew - העיירה בוערת - the village is burning.
Oy Va Voi is such a talented artistic socially aware asset in our world.


The song Refugee still makes my eyes well up. Saw so many refugees when I was living/working in the Middle East... 
some days, everything is getting wrong : after pressing PSD 5 times in a row, i get this song , and i really dont like it. 
i'm fed up, either i listen or i leave, but even PSD gives me songs i dont like, so why fight ?

 Great and true! 
traurig ist die Wahrheit. For Sure.
 Signwrtr61 wrote:


One other note - the tune used in part of the song is that of one of the repeated prayers said/sung during the Day of Atonment (Yom Kippur) service
 ralf-peter.hayen538 wrote:

First I was wondering if the song was in german, sung with a strong accent, perhaps "Schwizerdütsch" (allemanian accent of the German-speaking Swiss), which I -- as a Northern German -- do not really understand. Then I looked at the comments and realized that the song language is Yiddish, a roughly thousand-year-old (West Germanic) language that emerged from Middle High German.

"S'brent" (the title) means in German "es brennt" (short form: 's brennt). The place where the cruel progrom takes place in the song is "shtetl", which sounds like the German word "Städtchen" or in  swabian dialect "Städele" (very small town or village).

But more important than this linguistic consideration is certainly the content of this song, which describes the horror after the Nazi invasion of Poland.

Thanks to Radio Paradise for this strong political song!



Oh, my sweet friends! This song is not about nazis.
The  original song was writen by Mordecai Gebirtig in 1936 after the progrom in the city of  Przytyk in Poland. But the germans invaded poland in the late 1939.
So just polish people... As russian in russia, hungarians in hungary, romanians in romania, and so on in all europe... 
Nice. Such pathos, such suffering in her voice, I like it. So much Yiddish music reflects a lifetime of suffering.🐨
 Ngoziman wrote:
<bump>
for those who'd like to understand the lyrics

The song was written in 1938 by Mordechai Gebirtig following a pogrom in the small village (shtetl) of Przytyk in Poland in 1936.  Although there's sadness in the tune, the words offer hope and defiance, and it became the anthem of the Kracow resistance during Nazi occupation.  In 1942, Gebirtig was shot and killed by Nazi soldiers in the Kracow ghetto.

It's sung by a young Hungarian folk singer, Agi Szaloki, who captures both the heartbreak and the hope - Oi Va Voi do seem to find so many beautiful voices.

Here's the words, and for those of you who, like me, don't understand Yiddish, there's a translation too!

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent    
Oj undzer orim stetl nebeh brent   
Bejze vintn mit jirgozn 
Rajszn brehn un ceblozn
Starker noh di wilde flamen
Alc alum sojn brent
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih
Mit farlejgte hend  
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih 
Vi undzer stetl brent

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent  
Di hilf iz nor in ajh alejn gevend 
Obj dosz stetl iz ajh tajer
Nemt di kejlim lest dosz fajer
Lest mit ajer ajgn blut
Bavejzt az ir dosz kent
Stejt nist brider ot azoj zih
Mit farleijgte hend
Stejt nist brider lest dosz fajer
Undzer stetl brent   

It's burning, brothers, it's burning!
Oy, our poor shtetl is burning!
Raging winds are fanning the wild flames
And furiously tearing,
Destroying and scattering everything
All around, all is burning
And you stand and look just so,
You, with folded hands...

And you stand and look just so,
While our shtetl burns
Our town is burning and only you can save it!     
Extinguish the fire with your very blood, if you must!
Don't just stand there, brothers, with folded hands
Don't just stand there, put out the fire!
Our shtetl is burning!
 


 Thank you very much! May your kindness return to you threefold.

Something different, nice!
 ralf-peter.hayen538 wrote:
...

But more important than this linguistic consideration is certainly the content of this song, which describes the horror after the Nazi invasion of Poland.


 

Yeah, no, um, as bad as the Nazis were, in 1936 the Poles were managing to run their own pogroms (not to mention the Soviet invasion of Poland, too, but the list goes on ...).
 ralf-peter.hayen538 wrote:
First I was wondering if the song was in german, sung with a strong accent, perhaps "Schwizerdütsch" (allemanian accent of the German-speaking Swiss), which I -- as a Northern German -- do not really understand. Then I looked at the comments and realized that the song language is Yiddish, a roughly thousand-year-old (West Germanic) language that emerged from Middle High German.

"S'brent" (the title) means in German "es brennt" (short form: 's brennt). The place where the cruel progrom takes place in the song is "shtetl", which sounds like the German word "Städtchen" or in  swabian dialect "Städele" (very small town or village).

But more important than this linguistic consideration is certainly the content of this song, which describes the horror after the Nazi invasion of Poland.

Thanks to Radio Paradise for this strong political song!
 
Yiddish is, in fact, the language of the Ashkenazim, central and eastern European Jews and their descendants. Written in the Hebrew alphabet, it became one of the world's most widespread languages, appearing in most countries with a Jewish population by the 19th century. (Wikipedia)

As it has been incorporated into English it has provided us with a number of GREAT words, including: shlep, chutzpah, futz, glitch, huck, klutz, lox and bagel! 

Here's a fun link if you like words.... https://stacyknows.com/a-bisse...








I catch my breath everytime I hear this beautiful masterpiece. It evokes feelings of beauty and terror at the same time – what a composition!

As a side note, when I first heard the song, I was quite astonished to find that I understood a big part of the lyrics. I didn't know that Yiddish was so close to German.
First I was wondering if the song was in german, sung with a strong accent, perhaps "Schwizerdütsch" (allemanian accent of the German-speaking Swiss), which I -- as a Northern German -- do not really understand. Then I looked at the comments and realized that the song language is Yiddish, a roughly thousand-year-old (West Germanic) language that emerged from Middle High German.

"S'brent" (the title) means in German "es brennt" (short form: 's brennt). The place where the cruel progrom takes place in the song is "shtetl", which sounds like the German word "Städtchen" or in  swabian dialect "Städele" (very small town or village).

But more important than this linguistic consideration is certainly the content of this song, which describes the horror after the Nazi invasion of Poland.

Thanks to Radio Paradise for this strong political song!
<bump>
for those who'd like to understand the lyrics    

The song was written in 1938 by Mordechai Gebirtig following a pogrom in the small village (shtetl) of Przytyk in Poland in 1936.  Although there's sadness in the tune, the words offer hope and defiance, and it became the anthem of the Kracow resistance during Nazi occupation.  In 1942, Gebirtig was shot and killed by Nazi soldiers in the Kracow ghetto.

It's sung by a young Hungarian folk singer, Agi Szaloki, who captures both the heartbreak and the hope - Oi Va Voi do seem to find so many beautiful voices.

Here's the words, and for those of you who, like me, don't understand Yiddish, there's a translation too!

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent    
Oj undzer orim stetl nebeh brent   
Bejze vintn mit jirgozn 
Rajszn brehn un ceblozn
Starker noh di wilde flamen
Alc alum sojn brent
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih
Mit farlejgte hend  
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih 
Vi undzer stetl brent

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent  
Di hilf iz nor in ajh alejn gevend 
Obj dosz stetl iz ajh tajer
Nemt di kejlim lest dosz fajer
Lest mit ajer ajgn blut
Bavejzt az ir dosz kent
Stejt nist brider ot azoj zih
Mit farleijgte hend
Stejt nist brider lest dosz fajer
Undzer stetl brent   

It's burning, brothers, it's burning!
Oy, our poor shtetl is burning!
Raging winds are fanning the wild flames
And furiously tearing,
Destroying and scattering everything
All around, all is burning
And you stand and look just so,
You, with folded hands...

And you stand and look just so,
While our shtetl burns
Our town is burning and only you can save it!     
Extinguish the fire with your very blood, if you must!
Don't just stand there, brothers, with folded hands
Don't just stand there, put out the fire!
Our shtetl is burning!

 


Do not understand a word but beautiful music and her voice, simply beautiful
 spacemoose wrote:

I thought it was swiss german at first. 

Exactly what I thought, so I wanted to know who it was!

 


 ce wrote:
Yiddish seems to sounds very similar to different languages that I understand, but it always take me a while to realize that it's none of them. Very disorienting... {#Confused}

Yiddish (& AFAIK Hebrew) are among the few languages that have a similar sound as the Dutch "g" or "ch", which sounds a bit like clearing your throat, or as a harder Spanish "j' / 'x'. This makes it sound like Dutch.
It sounds very similar to German (obviously).
It also happens to sound very similar to some Dutch dialects which mix (old) Dutch & (old) German.

Yet, I can only understand bits of Yiddish. {#Think}

 
I thought it was swiss german at first. 

Yiddish seems to sounds very similar to different languages that I understand, but it always take me a while to realize that it's none of them. Very disorienting... {#Confused}

Yiddish (& AFAIK Hebrew) are among the few languages that have a similar sound as the Dutch "g" or "ch", which sounds a bit like clearing your throat, or as a harder Spanish "j' / 'x'. This makes it sound like Dutch.
It sounds very similar to German (obviously).
It also happens to sound very similar to some Dutch dialects which mix (old) Dutch & (old) German.

Yet, I can only understand bits of Yiddish. {#Think}

I loves the violin.{#Boohoo}
Yes, I thought this was a German dialect. Yiddish huh? Caught my attention, but not in a good way really.. 5.


Massel tov to this band!

 matz wrote:
You are right, this is Jiddish, not German. 
And I thank all fellow radio listeners who don't join aweful and totally foolish racist stuff or blaming the generation born long after WW II for the cruel deeds of others. Please come and meet us, don't asume what you simply can't judge. Thanks.
 
Have a couple good friends in Hamburg, Germany. Awesome, wonderful people, beautiful, spectacular, and ancient country.

Who among us does not, at some point in their history, have something they are not proud of? We learn whatever there is to learn from it, and move on. Only the ignorant carry the grudges and prejudices on to contaminate future generations.


You are right, this is Jiddish, not German. 
And I thank all fellow radio listeners who don't join aweful and totally foolish racist stuff or blaming the generation born long after WW II for the cruel deeds of others. Please come and meet us, don't asume what you simply can't judge. Thanks.


Fantagirah wrote:
..., I did not expect to hear anything in German. I listened attentively and realised that it could only be Yiddish.... 


 Businessgypsy wrote:
Well said! As a descendant of Picts, I'm still pissed at those Vikings.

 
You'll want to be pissed at the Gaels too, coming over from Ireland and displacing Pictish culture and language. Bleedin' Gaels, come over here, take our woad, take our language, take our lands... ;)

wunderschön!
Beautiful, poignant...........
ACHHHHHHHHH...
Gut.
I heard this song several times now. At the first time it appeared to me as if I could understand some words, but thought that this cannot be. Although Radio Paradise is very international with it's songs, I did not expect to hear anything in German. I listened attentively and realised that it could only be Yiddish.

A dramatic song, with a bitter sweet melody and a cruel background...
Sing it to me Fraulein!
shutter wrote:
Y'know, "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" has always been one of my favorite songs. Gotta hand it to you Picts. So far ahead of your time!
Ummagumma!

 Businessgypsy wrote:
Well said! As a descendant of Picts, I'm still pissed at those Vikings. Give us back our Blue! Stateside, my family picked their own cotton as sharecroppers (even in my mother's time). Well, the landowner's cotton, but we were in there somewhere. Slap that tray of guilt to the ground!

A beautiful, heartwrenching historical song. Remembrance mandatory, guilt optional.


 
Y'know, "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" has always been one of my favorite songs.  Gotta hand it to you Picts. So far ahead of your time! 

 Businessgypsy wrote:
Well said! As a descendant of Picts, I'm still pissed at those Vikings. Give us back our Blue! Stateside, my family picked their own cotton as sharecroppers (even in my mother's time). Well, the landowner's cotton, but we were in there somewhere. Slap that tray of guilt to the ground!

A beautiful, heartwrenching historical song. Remembrance mandatory, guilt optional.

 
As a descendant of Vikings, you're all lucky to still be alive. {#War}
Geecheeboy wrote:
Being the great grandson of slave owners, I bear guilt. Being white and male, I bear guilt. Although I am thinking of sueing my Italian descended daughter-in-law for the Roman subjugation of the Anglo Saxon people.
Well said! As a descendant of Picts, I'm still pissed at those Vikings. Give us back our Blue! Stateside, my family picked their own cotton as sharecroppers (even in my mother's time). Well, the landowner's cotton, but we were in there somewhere. Slap that tray of guilt to the ground!

A beautiful, heartwrenching historical song. Remembrance mandatory, guilt optional.


Very nice tune!!!
@Ngoziman

Undzer shtetl brent - unserer Stadt brennt - Our city is burning

I'm totally depressed and bummed after listening to this song.{#Arrowl}
 mkrueck wrote:
Being German and bearing guilt - this beautiful song makes me sad,
 
? How old are you? I also have a german passport. But that does not make me feel guilty. And yes, it is a beautiful and sad song.


Being the great grandson of slave owners, I bear guilt.  Being white and male, I bear guilt. Although I am thinking of sueing my Italian descended daughter-in-law for the Roman subjugation of the Anglo Saxon people.
 mkrueck wrote:
Being German and bearing guilt - this beautiful song makes me sad,

i was reading Chief Joseph's parting speech yesterday "I will fight no more forever" —-guilt.

 Thank you Ngoziman
Adank Rebecca and Bill
Bravo Oi Va Voi
i don't know about godlike, but it's extraordinary

Wow. Seems that Oi Va Voi are back after their previous disappointing album. Good violin playing, too.
wow. what a song.

My thanks to all those who made personal comments about their families and cultures. Thanks also for the translation of the lyrics. Loved the song, now I can appreciate it all the more. Oi Va Voi always surprises me!
Thank you for providing this important context.  Never forget ...

 
Ngoziman wrote:
Many thanks for playing this haunting song, Bill and Rebecca. 

The song was written in 1938 by Mordechai Gebirtig following a pogrom in the small village (shtetl) of Przytyk in Poland in 1936.  Although there's sadness in the tune, the words offer hope and defiance, and it became the anthem of the Kracow resistance during Nazi occupation.  In 1942, Gebirtig was shot and killed by Nazi soldiers in the Kracow ghetto.

Its sung by a young Hungarian folk singer, Agi Szaloki, who captures both the heartbreak and the hope - Oi Va Voi do seem to find so many beautiful voices.

Here's the words, and for those of you who, like me, don't understand Yiddish, there's a translation too!

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent    
Oj undzer orim stetl nebeh brent   
Bejze vintn mit jirgozn 
Rajszn brehn un ceblozn
Starker noh di wilde flamen
Alc alum sojn brent
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih
Mit farlejgte hend  
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih 
Vi undzer stetl brent

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent  
Di hilf iz nor in ajh alejn gevend 
Obj dosz stetl iz ajh tajer
Nemt di kejlim lest dosz fajer
Lest mit ajer ajgn blut
Bavejzt az ir dosz kent
Stejt nist brider ot azoj zih
Mit farleijgte hend
Stejt nist brider lest dosz fajer
Undzer stetl brent   

It's burning, brothers, it's burning!
Oy, our poor shtetl is burning!
Raging winds are fanning the wild flames
And furiously tearing,
Destroying and scattering everything
All around, all is burning
And you stand and look just so,
You, with folded hands...

And you stand and look just so,
While our shtetl burns
Our town is burning and only you can save it!     
Extinguish the fire with your very blood, if you must!
Don't just stand there, brothers, with folded hands
Don't just stand there, put out the fire!
Our shtetl is burning!

 


Being German and bearing guilt - this beautiful song makes me sad,
Hauntingly beautiful.
I was surprised that I understood parts of the lyrics. I did'nt know how close to german the language is.

 BillG wrote:


Not so far off, actually. Yiddish is a Germanic language — a bit too far removed from modern German to be considered a dialect, but sharing most of its vocabulary & grammar with German — spoken by Eastern European Jews and their descendents throughout Europe, the US, Israel, and elsewhere. It is generally written with the Hebrew alphabet.
 
Quite a few Yiddish words have made their way into commonly-spoken English, including chutzpah, kibitzer, putz, schmuck - see a nice Wikipedia entry on English words of Yiddish origin. I used to hear such words frequently when I worked in the East End of London a few decades ago, as there's been a large Yiddish-speaking community there going back to the 19th century. Yiddish is, I've read, considered to be a low, uncouth language of the working class by Hebrew speakers and establishment figures, and was/is discouraged in some Jewish communities and settings.

Oi Oi !
 pugifat wrote:
oi! thats me - brent.  could i be yiddish?
 

No.  But you could speak Yiddish.
oi! thats me - brent.  could i be yiddish?
hay 

i am from israel and i know this song frome my childhod - in the holicost isue ...

that what i know ...

the oi va voi song  

this is the song in hebrow 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlgvxUmTuUs

 
My grandmother's town put all the Jews in a barn and burned it down. The book Neighbors by Jan Gross tells the tale.
this is amazing! we learnd the hebrew translation at school on holucost day .   not very chearfull  but a very good version                                                                                             
Excellent!
lovely-
Thanks for the words in english- very moving and beautiful
 Ngoziman wrote:

The song was written in 1938 by Mordechai Gebirtig following a pogrom in the small village (shtetl) of Przytyk in Poland in 1936.  Although there's sadness in the tune, the words offer hope and defiance, and it became the anthem of the Kracow resistance during Nazi occupation.  In 1942, Gebirtig was shot and killed by Nazi soldiers in the Kracow ghetto.

Its sung by a young Hungarian folk singer, Agi Szaloki, who captures both the heartbreak and the hope - Oi Va Voi do seem to find so many beautiful voices.

Here's the words, and for those of you who, like me, don't understand Yiddish, there's a translation too!



 BillG wrote:
Not so far off, actually. Yiddish is a Germanic language — a bit too far removed from modern German to be considered a dialect, but sharing most of its vocabulary & grammar with German — spoken by Eastern European Jews and their descendents throughout Europe, the US, Israel, and elsewhere. It is generally written with the Hebrew alphabet.
 
This was news to me....the things you learn on RP. And thank you also Ngoziman for your interesting post.
Oi Va Voi's first album hooked me instantly. A bit more upbeat than this and featuring the old folk music of the tiny Jewish population in Moorish Spain. Really cool stuff.

Many thanks for playing this haunting song, Bill and Rebecca. 

The song was written in 1938 by Mordechai Gebirtig following a pogrom in the small village (shtetl) of Przytyk in Poland in 1936.  Although there's sadness in the tune, the words offer hope and defiance, and it became the anthem of the Kracow resistance during Nazi occupation.  In 1942, Gebirtig was shot and killed by Nazi soldiers in the Kracow ghetto.

Its sung by a young Hungarian folk singer, Agi Szaloki, who captures both the heartbreak and the hope - Oi Va Voi do seem to find so many beautiful voices.

Here's the words, and for those of you who, like me, don't understand Yiddish, there's a translation too!

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent    
Oj undzer orim stetl nebeh brent   
Bejze vintn mit jirgozn 
Rajszn brehn un ceblozn
Starker noh di wilde flamen
Alc alum sojn brent
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih
Mit farlejgte hend  
Un ir stejt un kukt azoj zih 
Vi undzer stetl brent

'sz brent briderleh 'sz brent  
Di hilf iz nor in ajh alejn gevend 
Obj dosz stetl iz ajh tajer
Nemt di kejlim lest dosz fajer
Lest mit ajer ajgn blut
Bavejzt az ir dosz kent
Stejt nist brider ot azoj zih
Mit farleijgte hend
Stejt nist brider lest dosz fajer
Undzer stetl brent   

It's burning, brothers, it's burning!
Oy, our poor shtetl is burning!
Raging winds are fanning the wild flames
And furiously tearing,
Destroying and scattering everything
All around, all is burning
And you stand and look just so,
You, with folded hands...

And you stand and look just so,
While our shtetl burns
Our town is burning and only you can save it!     
Extinguish the fire with your very blood, if you must!
Don't just stand there, brothers, with folded hands
Don't just stand there, put out the fire!
Our shtetl is burning!



 netskink wrote:
I thought German.  Boy was I wrong.
 

Not so far off, actually. Yiddish is a Germanic language — a bit too far removed from modern German to be considered a dialect, but sharing most of its vocabulary & grammar with German — spoken by Eastern European Jews and their descendents throughout Europe, the US, Israel, and elsewhere. It is generally written with the Hebrew alphabet.
I thought German.  Boy was I wrong.
I love it how Bill has to point out that this is a British band almost every time he plays it.  Are they Israeli ex-pats or something?
FIRST!  (I've never done that before- ha)