Тумбалалайка (вариант)

Tumbalalaika (variant)

Тумбалалайка (вариант) - a Jewish song from the catalog of Walter J. Kin.

Tumbalalaika, the old Yiddish riddle of love

Tumbalalaika is a beloved Yiddish folk song from Eastern Europe, a courtship riddle set to music. A young man cannot sleep, thinking whom to marry, and asks a maiden three riddles: what can grow without rain, what can burn for years without going out, what can weep without tears. She answers him: a stone can grow without rain, love can burn for years, and a heart can weep without tears. The title itself is a play on the

balalaika and the Yiddish word tum, the strum of the strings.

Olga Anikina keeps the courtship and the riddles, and gives the ending a warm, wry turn. Love, the girl says, is what warms us in the bitter cold. And yet, she adds, that does not mean she will become his wife. The old song keeps its tenderness and gains a smile.

Why bring it into English

Tumbalalaika has crossed every border already through its melody. Carrying its words into Russian and English lets a new listener understand the riddle and the answer, and hear why generations kept singing it. Jewish Songs for All exists to give songs like this one their meaning back for everyone.

The words, line by line

Russian lyrics by Olga Anikina. The English is a literal, line by line rendering for meaning, prepared for review, not a singing version.

Credits & rights

Free to sing, free to teach

These songs are free for synagogues, JCCs, museums, schools, yeshivas and families. For everyone else, free to start, and a modest fee later, so the songs travel and take root.

Questions, or a use we have not thought of? Write to doublesign28@gmail.com.

More about the wider Jewish Songs. For All project at havanagila.org.