Also entitled “Di tsherede” (The flock). Words are attributed to Z. Segalovitch (1884-1949). The song was sung by compiler Yosl Mlotek in Warsaw in the 1930’s. A slightly different version was published by Kh. Poznyak in Tel Aviv in 1974.
Who is singing on that shore,
Singing so mysteriously?
It is the young peasant girls
Driving their flock home.
The flock goes to the water
And drinks slowly.
From afar, the church bell tolls
And the ringing can be heard.
A small boat appears in the distance
Carrying two fishermen.
They stare into the water
And don’t exchange any words.
The first casts out the net,
The second rows softly.
The blazing sun is already disappearing
And the color display ends.
The river was just red
And now it is dark blue.
There are no peasant girls,
Nor any flocks.
A sound lingers sadly
From that shore
As if someone regretted
That the day had passed.
Ver zingt es dort oyf yenem breg,
Ver zingt azoy geheym?
Dos traybn yunge poyertes
Di tsherede aheym.
Di tsherede tsum vaser geyt
Un trinkt zikh langzam on,
Fun vaytn, vaytn kloyster-glok
Derhert zikh a glin-glon.
A shifele bavayzt zikh vayt,
Tsvey fisher zitsn dort;
Zey kukn shtar in taykh arayn
Un reydn nisht keyn vort.
Der ershter varft di nets aroys,
Der tsveyter rudert shtil. —
Di fayerzun bahalt zikh shoyn,
A sof tsum farbnshpil.
Der taykh iz nor vos royt geven —
Itst iz er tunkl-blo —
Nishto shoyn mer keyn poyertes,
Keyn tsherede nishto.
Dokh shvebt, es shvebt nokh umetik
A klang fun yenem breg;
Vi emets volt badoyern
Dem tog vos iz avek.
ווער זינגט עס דאָרט אױף יענעם ברעג,
װער זינגט אַזױ געהײם?. . .
דאָס טרײַבן יונגע פּױערטעס
די טשערעדע אַהײם.
די טשערעדע צום װאַסער גײט
און טרינקט זיך לאַנגזאַם אָן.
פֿון װײַטן, װײַטן קלױסטער־גלאָק
דערהערט זיך אַ גלין־גלאָן.
אַ שיפֿעלע באַװײַזט זיך װײַט,
צװײ פֿישער זיצן דאָרט;
זײ קוקן שטאַר אין טײַך אַרײַן
און רײדן נישט קײן װאָרט.
דער ערשטער װאַרפֿט די נעץ אַרױס,
דער צװײטער רודערט שטיל. —
די פֿײַערזון באַהאַלט זיך שױן,
אַ סוף צום פֿאַרבנשפּיל.
דער טײַך איז נאָר װאָס רױט געװען —
איצט איז ער טונקל־בלאָ —
נישטאָ שױן מער קײן פּױערטעס,
קײן טשערעדע נישטאָ.
דאָך שװעבט, עס שװעבט נאָך אומעטיק
אַ קלאַנג פֿון יענעם ברעג,
װי עמעץ װאָלט באַדױערן
דעם טאָג װאָס איז אַװעק.
Song Title: Ver Zingt Es Dort?
First published in 1988 as Pearls of Yiddish Song: Favorite Folk, Art and Theatre Songs, this anthology contains 115 songs. Some material had never been published, while others, included in rare song collections or sheet music, were largely inaccessible. The songs presented reflect Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the United States and depict childhood, love, family celebrations, poverty, work and struggle. There are also songs from the Hasidic and Maskilic movements, songs of Zion and of America, as well as songs from the Yiddish theater.
The title of this anthology derives from the weekly two-page feature column “Pearls of Yiddish Poetry,” which the compilers Yosl and Chana Mlotek initiated in 1970 in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forvertz (the Yiddish Daily Forward). Hundreds of readers from around the world — including authors, composers, singers, actors — became co-participants in this collective folk project and recalled melodies, lines, fragments, stanzas and their variants of songs, poems, and plays which they had heard in their youth. At first, readers sent in only written material. Later, they also taped songs on cassettes, many of whose melodies had, until then, never been recorded. They also identified and supplied missing information regarding lyricists, poets, and composers and described the circumstances surrounding the songs’ origins, their dissemination, diffusion and impact.
