Jevel Katz: Representing Yiddish Buenos Aires

1 Jevel Katz: Representing Yiddish Buenos Aires Patricia G. Nuriel Wofford College Who was Jevel Katz? With the influx of the Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe to the Southern Atlantic starting in the late nineteenth century, Buenos Aires became a world center of Yiddish language and culture, spawning significant literature, theatre, and journalism. A main figure in that milieu was Jevel Katz.i Born in Vilna in 1902 and arriving in Argentina in 1930, Katz soon became the best-known performer on the Yiddish stage. Katz’s success extended beyond Buenos Aires to other cities and the Jewish agricultural colonies in Argentina and bordering countries. His comic persona is reflected in his reputation as “der freylekhster yid in Argentine” [the happiest Jew in Argentina]. Word of his fame reached impresarios of the North American Yiddish stage. Alas, just as he was to embark upon a U.S. tour, he died in 1940 of complications following a routine tonsillectomy. Katz’s funeral was attended by tens of thousands, a monumental percentage of the 250,000-strongii Jewish population of Argentina. His legendary status was such that he was dubbed “el Gardel judío” [the Jewish Gardel], after the tango idol Carlos Gardel, who also died at the pinnacle of his career, in 1935.iii Katz’s posthumous reputation declined as Argentine Jews integrated, abandoned Yiddish, and increased their use of Spanish. Interest in this artist—mainly among scholars—re-emerged right before the turn of the millennium.iv Jevel Katz’s Repertoire Jevel Katz’s prolific work surpassed hundreds of pieces. He himself published only one volume, in 1933, with lyrics to just ten songs: Argentiner glikn: parodyes un kupletn [Argentine http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 2 fortunes: Parodies and couplets].v In 1939 and 1940, words to other pieces were featured in the Argentine Yiddish newspaper Di yidishe tsaytung, in a section exclusively dedicated to the performer and titled “Azoy zingt Khevl Kats” [Thus sings Jevel Katz].vi Katz recorded his renditions of only a handful of songs, some of which can be heard on the album Homenaje a Jevel Katz, issued by the Fundación IWO, the Buenos Aires equivalent of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research based in New York.vii Katz drew on “European music-hall and cabaret traditions” (Baker, “Gvald” 153), incorporating Jewish liturgical and folk music motifs as well as Latin American rhythms. His Yiddish lyrics, with their heavy borrowings from Spanish and the Argentine slang known as lunfardo, mirrored the everyday language of Jewish immigrants. Katz’s songs portrayed in sharp comic mode the challenges they faced: economic hardship, acquisition of a new language, the slow process of acculturation. He sang of streets and cafés in Buenos Aires Jewish neighborhoods, the tenements where immigrants lived, and other places where they gathered. In some pieces, Katz joked about his own artistic tours, as he depicted life in the Jewish agricultural settlements in provincial Argentina.viii “An IOU Tragedy” Following is the text of a typical parody by Jevel Katz, “A tragedye fun a pagarey” [An IOU tragedy], one of the songs published in Di yidishe tsaytung between 1939 and 1940 (see illustration). Katz’s title Yiddishizes the Spanish term pagaré, which designates an IOU or promissory note. We include Spanish and English translations of the song, as well as its original Yiddish and a transcription into the Latin alphabet. Terms derived from Spanish are italicized and glossed in the English. http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 3 An IOU Tragedy Tragedia de un pagaréi A tragedye fun a pagarey ‫אַ טראַ געדיע ֿפון אַ ּפאַ גאַ ריי‬ Let us sing a pretty song, Hey didl didl dey. On Corrientes Street flies a Jew, Carrying a pagarey [IOU], He carries a pagareyele [little IOU], A vensirtn [expired] pagareyele, Expired two weeks ago, Expired two weeks ago. Cantemos una linda canción, hei didl didl dei. Por Corrientes va volando un judío y lleva un pagaréi. Lleva un pagaréiele, un vencido pagaréiele, vencido hace dos semanas ya, vencido hace dos semanas ya. Lomir zingen a sheyne lid, hey didl didl dey. Iber Korientes flit a yid, un trogt a pagarey. Er trogt a pagareyele, a vensirtn pagareyele, vensirt shoyn vokhn tsvey, vensirt shoyn vokhn tsvey. ָ ,‫לאָמירָזינגעןָאָָשיינעָליד‬ ָ .‫הײָדידלָדידלָדײ‬ ,‫איבערָקאָריענטעסָֿפליטָאָָייִ ד‬ ָ .‫אוןָטראָגטָאָָּפאָגאָריי‬ ,‫ערָטראָגטָאָָּפאָגאָרייעלע‬ ,‫אָָווענסירטןָּפאָגאָרייעלע‬ ,‫ווענסירטָשויןָוואָכןָצוויי‬ .‫ווענסירטָשויןָוואָכןָצוויי‬ Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oi dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... What is written on the pagarey? Hey didl didl day. “Pesos moneda nacional [national currency],” A one followed with three zeros. With guarantees that are valid, Firmirt [signed] with horse-sized letres [letters], And with a flourish, And with a flourish. ¿Qué dice el pagaréi? Hei didl didl dai. “Pesos moneda nacional”, un uno seguido de tres ceros. Con garantías que tienen validez, firmado con letras enormes como un caballo y encima rubricado, y encima rubricado. Vos shteyt geshribn in pagarey? Hey didl didl day. “Pesos moneda nacional”, an eyns mit nuln dray. Mit garanties vos hobn vert, firmirt mit letres groys vi ferd, farreydelt nokh derbay, farreydelt nokh derbay. Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oi dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... To whom is the pagarey made payable? Hey didl didl du. To the kherente [manager] of a Jewish bank, A kunyele [fixer] at that. It has already expired twenty times, Tsurikmandirt [bounced] and prolongiert [been extended]. It knows no rest, It knows no rest. ¿Para quién es el pagaréi? Hei didl didl du. Para el gerente de un banco judío, un cúñele además. Ha vencido ya veinte veces, ha sido devuelto y prorrogado. Circula sin parar, circula sin parar. Tsu vemen iz der pagarey? Hey didl didl du. Tsum kherente fun a yidish bank, a kunyele dertsu. Shoyn tsvantsik mol hot er vensirt, tsurikmandirt un prolongirt. Er hot dokh nisht keyn ru, er hot dokh nisht keyn ru. ָ ...‫ָדאםָדאםָדאםָדידלָדאם‬,‫אויָדאם‬ ָ ָ ?‫צוָוועמעןָאיזָדערָּפאָגאָריי‬ ָ .‫הײָדידלָדידלָדו‬ ָ ,‫צוםָכערערנטעָֿפוןָאָייִ דישָבאָנק‬ ָ .‫אָָקוניעלעָדערצו‬ ָ ,‫שויןָצוואָנציגָמאָלָהאָטָערָווענסירט‬ .‫צוריקמאָנדירטָאוןָּפראָלאָנגירט‬ ָ ,‫ערָהאָטָדאָךָנישטָקייןָרו‬ ָ .‫ערָהאָטָדאָךָנישטָקייןָרו‬ Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oi dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... ָ ...‫ָדאםָדאםָדאםָדידל דאם‬,‫אויָדאם‬ Who wrote the pagarey? Hey didl didl don. It was written and sealed By a Jew named Simón. He did not have the least bit of money. He had a piel [fur] made for his wife In the latest fashion, In the latest fashion. ¿Quién escribió el pagaréi? Hei didl didl don. Lo escribió y selló un judío llamado Simón. No tenía ni un peso. Encargó una prenda de piel para su mujer, a la última moda, a la última moda. Ver hot geshribn dem pagarey? Hey didl didl don. Geshribn un gekhasmet hot a yid, vos heyst Simon. Im hot dos gelt shtark oysgefelt. Er hot zayn vayb a pyel bashtelt, di mode tsum sezon, di mode tsum sezon. Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oi dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... What will happen to the pagarey? Hey didl didl dam. It will expire and be given another extension, Probably ten more times. After going back and forth indefinitely, It will be used as paper To the very last gram, To the very last gram. ¿Qué le ocurrirá al pagaréi? Hei didl didl dam. Vencerá y será prorrogado probablemente diez veces más. Después de ir y volver indefinidamente, será usado como papel, hasta el último gramo, hasta el último gramo. Vos vet vern fun pagarey? hay didl didl dam. Er vet vensirn, prolongirn tsen mol min-hastam. Nokhn tsurikgeyn on a shier, vet er nutsn oyf papir, akurat tsum gram, akurat tsum gram. Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oi dam, dam dam dam didl dam... Oy dam, dam dam dam didl dam... ָ ...‫ָדאםָדאםָדאםָדידלָדאם‬,‫אויָדאם‬ ָ ָ ?‫וואָסָשטײטָגעשריבןָאיןָּפאָגאָריי‬ ָ .ָ‫הייָדידלָדידלָדײ‬ ,"‫"ּפעסאָסָמאָנעדאָָנאָסיאָנאָל‬ .‫אָןָאיינסָמיטָנולןָדרײ‬ ָ ,‫מיטָגאָראָנטיִ עסָוואָסָהאָבןָווערט‬ ָ ,‫ֿפירמירטָמיטָלעטרעסָגרויסָוויָֿפערד‬ ָ ,‫ֿפאָרריידלטָנ ָאךָדערבײ‬ .‫ֿפאָרריידלטָנ ָאךָדערבײ‬ ָ ?‫ווערָהאָטָגעשריבןָדעםָּפאָגאָריי‬ ָ .‫הייָדידלָדידלָדאָן‬ ָ ,‫געשריבןָאוןָגעחתמעטָהאָט‬ ָ .‫ָוואָסָהייסטָסימאָן‬,‫אָָייִ ד‬ .‫איםָהאָטָדאׇ סָגעלטָשטאָרקָאויסגעֿפעלט‬ ָ ,‫ערָהאָטָזײןָווײבָאָָּפיעלָבאָשטעלט‬ ָ ,‫דיָמאָדעָצוםָסעזאָון‬ ָ .‫דיָמאָדעָצוםָסעזאָון‬ ָ …‫ָדאםָדאםָדאםָדידלָדאם‬,‫אויָדאם‬ ָ ?‫וואָסָוועטָווערעןָֿפוןָּפאָגאָריי‬ .‫הייָדידלָדידלָדאָם‬ ‫ָּפראָלאָנגירן‬,‫ערָוועטָווענסירן‬ .‫צעןָמאָלָמן־הסּתם‬ ,‫נאָכןָצוריקגײןָאָןָאָָשיער‬ ָ ,‫וועטָערָנוצןָאויףָּפאָּפיר‬ ָ ,‫אָקוראָטָצוםָגראָם‬ ָ .‫אָקוראָטָצוםָגראָם‬ ָ ָ ...‫ָדאםָדאםָדאםָדידלָדאם‬,‫אויָדאם‬ ָ http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 4 The song portrays the path followed by an expired promissory note. In the opening scene, a Jew holding a valueless IOU runs down Corrientes Street, one of the main arteries of the Jewish area of Buenos Aires. The IOU bears the signature of a Jew named Simón who, lacking the money to buy a fashionable fur for his wife, borrowed 1,000 pesos from the manager of a Jewish bank and failed to repay the lender within the designated period. The IOU, often extended, passed around, bounces repeatedly. The “tragic” end of the promissory note resides in the scatological implication of its ultimate use as “paper.” “A tragedye” is set to the tune of a contemporary Yiddish song titled “Rabeynu Tam,” whose lyrics were written by poet Itzik Manger (1901-1969), with music by Hertz Rubin (19111958).ix Manger’s humorous text, or rather metatext, tells of a song composed by a tailor’s apprentice to honor the medieval French Talmudic scholar Rabbeinu Jacob Ben Meir Tam. Somehow the song turns parodic, incorporating an improbable love letter sent by the queen of Turkey to Rabbeinu Tam and the jealous reaction of the rabbi’s wife.x Maintaining the original’s question-and-answer and choral structure, Katz recontextualizes the love-letter narrative by moving its new protagonists to Buenos Aires and adding another comic stratum to Manger’s faux traditional narrative. In Katz’s lyrics, the swindled Jew running down the street as he holds the IOU has replaced the golden peacock flying over the Black Sea to carry the queen’s letter to the rabbi; the promissory note is the parodic parallel to the love letter; the scammer Simón corresponds to the loving queen of Turkey; and the betrayed bank manager’s counterpart is the honored Rabbeinu Tam. The gerente (Spanish for “manager,” in this case, of a bank) is Simón’s “connection” or kunyele—from the Spanish cuña, which literally means a “wedge” but in lunfardo slang designates a fixer. The word is adapted to Yiddish by changing the final vowel to “e” and adding the diminutive suffix “-le,” which further undermines the figure of the bank http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 5 manager, who is not only untrustworthy but now deceived by Simón. A similar pattern is used with pagareyele, by borrowing the word pagaré from Spanish—meaning promissory note—and extending the final vowel into the Yiddish diphthong “-ey” followed by the diminutive suffix “ele,” which thereby stresses the IOU’s worthlessness. The last two lines, repeating “akurat tsum gram,” are kept as in Manger’s text. In addition to their literal meaning, “in perfect rhyme” (Mlotec 170), the use of the word gram as a metric unit allows a second reading: after having lost its monetary value, the promissory note’s material worth has been reduced “to its very last gram.” “A tragedye” exemplifies the rhetorical strategies deployed by Katz to comic effect. Drawing upon parodic contrasts and the hyperbolic use of language in the immigrants’ vernacular, Jevel Katz portrays their financial tribulations (and occasionally questionable responses to them) by the means of a quick-money scam, set against the backdrop of Buenos Aires during the worldwide economic crisis of the 1930s. http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 6 Newspaper clipping of the song “A tragedye fun a pagarey" from Di yidishe tsaytung, Jevel Katz, ca. 1939-1940, Fundación IWO, “Jevel Katz” Collection. Image reproduced with the authorization of the Fundación IWO. http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 7 Sources Alberstein, Chava. “Rabeinu Tam.” Yiddish Songs, Emi, 2001. ---. “Rabbi Tam.” YouTube, uploaded by schnuffibossi, 18 Oct. 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVAbyVYE2z4. Baker, Zachary M. “‘Gvald, Yidn, Buena Gente’: Jevel Katz, Yiddish Bard of the Río de la Plata.” Inventing the Modern Yiddish Stage: Essays in Drama, Performance, and Show Business, edited by Joel Berkowitz and Barbara Henry, Wayne State UP, 2012, pp. 20222. ---. “‘More Argentine than Martín Fierro’: Jevel Katz’s Debut in Buenos Aires, 1930.” Digital Yiddish Theatre Project, 20 Feb. 2019, web.uwm.edu/yiddish-stage/jevel_katz. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019. DellaPergola, Sergio. “Demographic Trends of Latin American Jewry.” The Jewish Presence in Latin America, edited by Judith Laikin Elkin and Gilbert W. Merkx, Boston, Allen & Unwin, 1987, pp. 85-133. Grosser Nagarajan, Nadia. Pomegranate Seeds: Latin American Jewish Tales, U of New Mexico P, 2005. Homenaje a Jevel Katz. Fundación IWO, undated. Jevel Katz y sus canciones. RGS Music, 2006. Jevel Katz y sus paisanos. Directed by Alejandro Vagnenkos. 16M Films, 2005, Vimeo, https://vimeo.com/35317861. Katz, Jevel. Argentiner glikn: parodyes un kupletn. Buenos Aires, 1933. ---. “Azoy zingt Khevl Kats: A tragedye fun a pagarey.” Di yidishe tzaytung, ca. 1939-1940. Kon, Henoch. Oyfn veg: cancionero ídish. Buenos Aires, Libros del Zorzal, 2014. http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 8 Mlotek, Eleanor Gordon. Mir Trogn a Gezang: Favorite Yiddish Songs. New York, Education Department of the Workmen’s Circle, 1989. Palomino, Pablo. “The Musical Worlds of Jewish Buenos Aires, 1910-1940.” Mazal Tov, Amigos! Jews and Popular Music in the Americas, edited by Amalia Ran and Moshe Morad, Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2016, pp. 25-43. Rein, Raanan. Fútbol, Jews, and the Making of Argentina. Translated by Martha Grenzeback, Stanford UP, 2015. “Rabbeinu Tam.” The National Library of Israel, web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/music/daily_song/Pages/rabenu_tam.aspx. Accessed 13 Nov 2018. “Rabeynu Tam.” Yidlid, yidlid.org/chansons/rabbi-tam/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018. Svarch, Ariel. “Der freylekhster yid in Argentine: The Life and Death of Jevl Katz, Popular Artist of the 1930s.” Splendor, Decline, and Rediscovery of Yiddish in Latin America, edited by Malena Chinski and Alan Astro, Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2018, pp. 225-39. ---. “Mucho lujo: Jevl Katz y las complejidades del espectáculo étnico-popular en Buenos Aires, 1930-1940.” Istor: Revista de Historia Internacional, vol. 14, no. 53, 2013, pp. 65-78. Toker, Eliahu. “¡Andá a cantarle a Jevel Katz!” Eliahu Toker, eliahutoker.com.ar/escritos/gente_katz.htm. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018. ---. “Jevel Katz: Gardel lituano y porteño.” Nueva Sión, vol. 1, no. 18, separata, 9 Mar. 1985, pp. I-IV. University of Florida Digital Collections, ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00058024/00344/25j. Accessed 14 Oct. 2019. http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 9 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Alan Astro for his careful reading and editing as well as Ezequiel Semo, reference librarian of Fundación IWO, Buenos Aires, for his help in making archive materials available. Property of the author and LAJSA. All references should be properly and fully cited. Notes i Note variant spellings of the performer’s first name: Jevel, Jevl and Khevl. ii See DellaPergola (88-97) for detailed data on the Jewish population in Argentina during 1930-1940. iii For more information on Jevel Katz’s work and life, see Baker (“Gvald”; “More Argentine”), Palomino (36-41), Svarch (“Der freylekhster”; “Mucho lujo”), and Toker (“Andá”; “Jevel Katz”). iv The Argentine documentary Jevel Katz y sus paisanos [Jevel Katz and his countrymen] (dir. Alejandro Vagnenkos, 2005) makes an invaluable attempt to portray the historical importance of Jevel Katz by interviewing some very aged fans of the performer, veritable last of the Mohicans. The film is available in Vimeo. v Argentiner glikn includes the lyrics to these pieces: “A ranchera” [A ranchera], “A piknik in Vicente López” [A picnic in Vicente López (a Buenos Aires suburb)], “Qué decís: Tango” [What are you saying?: A tango], “Tango,” “Ranchera de mi corazón” [Ranchera of my heart], “Dados: Rumba” [Dice: A rumba], “A kolonist” [A settler], “Colchón: Rumba” [Mattress: A rumba], “A yidisher marinero” [A Jewish sailor], and “Mucho lujo” [Great luxury]. vi After Katz’s death, Di yidishe tsaytung renamed the section “Azoy zingt Khevl Kats” to “Azoy hot gezungen Khevl Kats” [Thus sang Jevel Katz]. vii The pieces compiled in Homenaje a Jevel Katz are the following: “Mucho ojo” [Beware], “Kinder-maysele” [A children’s story], “Glokn in altn shtetl” [Bells in the old shtetl], “Tukuman” [Tucumán]; “Mozesvil” [Moisés Ville] and “Basavilbaso” (two locations of Jewish agricultural colonies), “Ikh zukh a tsimer” [I‘m looking for a room], “Freylekhe garmoshke” [Happy harmonica], “A pokerl” [A little game of poker], “Zlate” [Zlate (a woman’s name)], “Ovinu malkeynu” (a parody of “Avinu malkeinu,” an august Jewish liturgical piece), “Vilne” [Vilna], and the monologue “El gringo en la plaza” [An immigrant in the park]. The first four pieces are recordings by Jevel Katz himself, while the other songs were performed by Max Perelman, Simón Tenovsky, David Hitzkop, Max Zalkind, http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/ 10 and César Pierry (in Spanish). Some of them were recorded during a concert held in tribute to Katz, “Te acordás de Jevel Katz…?” [Do you remember Jevel Katz…?]. In addition, the album Jevel Katz y sus canciones features several of the tracks mentioned above; some of them are available on YouTube. viii For transcription and English translation of several of Katz’s lyrics, see Baker (“Gvald”) and Svarch (“Der freylekhster”). Further excerpts in English are available in Grosser Nagarajan (74-76) and Rein (26). For the Spanish, see Toker (“Andá”; “Jevel Katz”), Malena Chinski’s translation of “Mucho ojo”—one of Katz’s bestknown songs—in Kon (26-31), and Svarch (“Mucho lujo” 76). ix Manger and Rubin’s transcription and translation of the song, along with musical score, are available in Eleanor Gordon Mlotek’s compilation of Yiddish songs (170-71). Transcription and English and French translations can be found at the Yidlid website (see “Rabeynu Tam”). Israeli singer Chava Alberstein’s album includes a recording of the piece, which is available on YouTube. x Manger turned to the Yiddish folkloric tradition while adding a modern viewpoint by which Rabbeinu Tam is the addressee of a woman’s love letter (“Rabbeinu Tam”). http://www.lajsa.org/resources/publications/