
	Song lyrics in the Argentina pilot film Translation of Khalutsim Lider (Songs of the Pioneers) — We performed this song in every city we visited. It seemed especially poignant in Moises Ville, where the Jewish population has declined from 5000 in 1950 to about 250 today. Many of those who departed went to Israel. Zion, my holy land, how dear you are to me! On the roadside stands a bent tree. As a Jew leaves for Palestine, his eyes are filled with tears. Great Lord, let us recite the Minkhah prayer. When Jews will go to Palestine, there will be joy! I am a pioneer from Poland. I go in shoes without soles. O little pioneer from Poland! My pants are with patches; my shoes, without soles. Great God, we sing songs—You alone can bring us help. Gather together, brothers, the sheaves of wheat. The sun should scorch and burn us; it has brought good fortune. Look! The bread has turned out well. The bread we eat and all our food come from our own fields. Sing fellow Jews! Sing a new song! Learn the songs of Jerusalem! On the high hills, Mt. Carmel and the Mount of Olives, watch the little children of Israel, a holy people. Parents: Where were you, oh devoted daughter? Daughter: I was in Palestine, a golden land. Mother, it was wonderful! Parents: Oy! Oy! Where did you sleep, my devoted daughter? Daughter: In a garret of hay with two pioneers. Mother, it was wonderful! The cold wind blows. We’ll add a chip to the fire and it will rise up red in the flames like a sacrifice. The fire flickers; the song rises around the finjan. Sing a song to you-- my homeland. The dance circle turns. The song speaks to you. Your mountains will rejoice, where the hora whirls. A thousand flowers will bloom in the desert! Songs in the Eastern European Film Hine Mah Tov — Watch for that gratifying moment when the audience realizes that we are trying to sing in their language and even with our American accents they enthusiastically start to applaud! We sang this song in Hebrew, Romanian and Bulgarian. Translation: “How good it is, and how pleasant, when we dwell together in unity.” Oyfin Pripestshik — When this Yiddish lullaby was announced, an older gentleman in the packed audience of the beautiful Bucharest Choral Temple stood up to serenade us and Annie ran over to meet him with the microphone. Adiyo — Adiyo is sung in Ladino, the Sephartic equivalent of Yiddish. The song means, “Goodbye! Your mother when she bore you gave you no heart, so I’m kicking you out!” Tumbalalaika — Tumbalaika prompted our guide Alina to tell of how she listened to her Jewish music teacher sing it as he boarded the transport to Auschwitz. For her, our singing this song is a tribute to all those who perished in the Holocaust. This is a love song that poses a riddle: Tell me pretty one, tell if you know, What needs no rain, and yet it can grow Tell what can blossom, bloom through the years, And yet when It years, cries without tears Oh foolish boy, now surely you know A rock needs no rain, and yet it can grow. True love can blossom, bloom through the years. An a heart when it yearns, can cry without tears. Refrain: Tumbala, tumbalaika, play balalaika, Tum balalaika, let there be joy. Ose Shalom — We joyfully found a twin Jewish choir in Bulgaria through Internet research. The “Agada Chorale” showed their inner strength in their voices. Coincidentally, we both had Ose Shalom in our repertoire. The lyrics of this song ask God to make peace. Ocho Kandelikas — This happy Ladino counting song of Chanukah means “Eight candles.” Lion Sleeps Tonight — We sang a silly American song in the most unlikely places: in the marble palace of the parliament, and after a home-cooked lunch at the Bucharest Jewish Community Center. Tsena — Little did we know that pandemonium would break loose after our Bulgarian concerts in Sofia and Plovdiv as the synergy of Kol Halev and Agada choirs exploded into jubilant, unplanned dancing and singing that went on throughout the post-concert supper. Translation: “Come on out girls and dance with the soldiers who have come back from the war.” Hava Nagila — This encore song always got people clapping and dancing. We were simply acting out the Hebrew lyrics: “Let us rejoice and sing and be happy.” Yerushalayim Shel Yahav -- Romanian opera singer Carla Musat began our two Bucharest concerts with this song about Jerusalem. As the first song on our tour, this completes the full circle of our incredible experience.

Song lyrics in the Argentina pilot film

Translation of Khalutsim Lider (Songs of the Pioneers) — We performed this song in every city we visited. It seemed especially poignant in Moises Ville, where the Jewish population has declined from 5000 in 1950 to about 250 today. Many of those who departed went to Israel.

Zion, my holy land, how dear you are to me!

On the roadside stands a bent tree. As a Jew leaves for Palestine, his eyes are filled with tears. Great Lord, let us recite the Minkhah prayer. When Jews will go to Palestine, there will be joy!

I am a pioneer from Poland. I go in shoes without soles. O little pioneer from Poland! My pants are with patches; my shoes, without soles.

Great God, we sing songs—You alone can bring us help. Gather together, brothers, the sheaves of wheat. The sun should scorch and burn us; it has brought good fortune. Look! The bread has turned out well. The bread we eat and all our food come from our own fields.

Sing fellow Jews! Sing a new song! Learn the songs of Jerusalem! On the high hills, Mt. Carmel and the Mount of Olives, watch the little children of Israel, a holy people.

Parents: Where were you, oh devoted daughter?
Daughter: I was in Palestine, a golden land. Mother, it was wonderful!
Parents: Oy! Oy! Where did you sleep, my devoted daughter?
Daughter: In a garret of hay with two pioneers. Mother, it was wonderful!

The cold wind blows. We’ll add a chip to the fire and it will rise up red in the flames like a sacrifice. The fire flickers; the song rises around the finjan.

Sing a song to you-- my homeland. The dance circle turns. The song speaks to you. Your mountains will rejoice, where the hora whirls. A thousand flowers will bloom in the desert!

Songs in the Eastern European Film

Hine Mah Tov — Watch for that gratifying moment when the audience realizes that we are trying to sing in their language and even with our American accents they enthusiastically start to applaud! We sang this song in Hebrew, Romanian and Bulgarian.

Translation: “How good it is, and how pleasant, when we dwell together in unity.”

Oyfin Pripestshik — When this Yiddish lullaby was announced, an older gentleman in the packed audience of the beautiful Bucharest Choral Temple stood up to serenade us and Annie ran over to meet him with the microphone.

Adiyo — Adiyo is sung in Ladino, the Sephartic equivalent of Yiddish. The song means, “Goodbye! Your mother when she bore you gave you no heart, so I’m kicking you out!”

Tumbalalaika — Tumbalaika prompted our guide Alina to tell of how she listened to her Jewish music teacher sing it as he boarded the transport to Auschwitz. For her, our singing this song is a tribute to all those who perished in the Holocaust.

This is a love song that poses a riddle:

Tell me pretty one, tell if you know,
What needs no rain, and yet it can grow
Tell what can blossom, bloom through the years,
And yet when It years, cries without tears

Oh foolish boy, now surely you know
A rock needs no rain, and yet it can grow.
True love can blossom, bloom through the years.
An a heart when it yearns, can cry without tears.

Refrain:
Tumbala, tumbalaika, play balalaika,
Tum balalaika, let there be joy.

Ose Shalom — We joyfully found a twin Jewish choir in Bulgaria through Internet research. The “Agada Chorale” showed their inner strength in their voices. Coincidentally, we both had Ose Shalom in our repertoire.

The lyrics of this song ask God to make peace.

Ocho Kandelikas — This happy Ladino counting song of Chanukah means “Eight candles.”

Lion Sleeps Tonight — We sang a silly American song in the most unlikely places: in the marble palace of the parliament, and after a home-cooked lunch at the Bucharest Jewish Community Center.

Tsena — Little did we know that pandemonium would break loose after our Bulgarian concerts in Sofia and Plovdiv as the synergy of Kol Halev and Agada choirs exploded into jubilant, unplanned dancing and singing that went on throughout the post-concert supper.

Translation: “Come on out girls and dance with the soldiers who have come back from the war.”

Hava Nagila — This encore song always got people clapping and dancing. We were simply acting out the Hebrew lyrics: “Let us rejoice and sing and be happy.”

Yerushalayim Shel Yahav -- Romanian opera singer Carla Musat began our two Bucharest concerts with this song about Jerusalem. As the first song on our tour, this completes the full circle of our incredible experience.