Chasing Prophecy
יעלילי טאנץ חביבי
שתהא למזל שתהא, אי’’ה ביי דיר שתהא
את החתן ספרדי, כלה נאה אשכנזי
רחל אמנו ספרדי, מאמע רחל אשכנזי
באבא סלי ספרדי, רבי נחמן אשכנזי
שתהא למזל ספרדי, אי’’ה ביי דיר אשכנזי
יעלילי טאנץ חביבי
ג’ינה ג’ינה ספרדי, עוד ישמע אשכנזי
יוסי אבי ספרדי, יום השמיני אשכנזי
מועדים לשמחה ספרדי, א גוט יום טוב אשכנזי
שתהא למזל ספרדי, אי’’ה ביי דיר אשכנזי
can u put the english tranliteration of it?
ReplyDeleteMy best (worst?) shot at translating this...
ReplyDeleteYa'alili, dance my beloved
It should be fortunate, may it be,
G-d willing, it will be
The bridegroom, sephardi
the attractive bride, ashkenazi
Mother Imeinu [our mother] sephardi,
Mama Rachel, ashkenazi
Baba Salli [a famous rabbi] sephardi,
Rabbi Nachman, ashkenazi
It should be fortunate, may it be,
G-d willing, it will be
Ya'alili, dance my beloved
Gina Gina sephardi
may we hear more ashkenazi
Yosef our father, sephardi
the eith day, ashkenazi
days for joy, sephardi,
have a good yom tov, ashkenazi
It should be fortunate, may it be,
G-d willing, it will be
Thanks for the translation, here is the transliteration:
ReplyDeleteYa'alili tantz chavivi
Sh'te'hey l'mazal sh'te'hey, im yirtze Hashem by dir sh'te'hey
Es hechoson Sefardi, kaloh noeh Ashkenazi
Rochel imeinu Sefardi, mame Rochel Ashkenazi
Babba Sali Sefardi, Rabbi Nachman Ashkenazi
Sh'te'hey l'mazal Sefardi, im yirtze Hashem by dir Ashkenazi
Ya'alili tantz chavivi
Gina gina Sefardi, od yishoma Ashkenazi
Yosi Avi Sefardi, Yom Hashmini Ashkenazi
Moadim l'simcha Sefardi, a gut Yom Tov Ashkenazi
Sh'te'hey l'mazal Sefardi, im yirtze Hashem by dir Ashkenazi
The translation is not bad, but doesn’t do the song justice.
ReplyDeleteThe point of the song is contrasting Sefardi and Ashkenazi phrases used in the same context:
“Rachel Imenu” (Hebrew) and "Mame Rochel” (Yiddish) are 2 ways to refer to the matriarch Rachel.
Babba Sali and Rabbi Nachman are both revered Rabbinic figures from the not-so-distant past, one Sefardi and one Ashkenazi.
The "Yosi Avi, Yom Hashmini” line is the only head-scratcher, but I’d bet it’s a reference to 2 well knows Lubavitch bands: Yossi & Avi Piamenta (Sefardi roots) and 8th Day (Ashkenazi roots).
Anybody want to challenge/verify that?
I think "Et hechatan" is more Sefardi than "Es hechoson"
ReplyDeleteYosi, avi, is def referring to the piamentas and 8th day (yom hashmini)
ReplyDeletedidn't translate this lyric,
ReplyDeleteSh'te'hey l'mazal Sefardi, im yirtze Hashem by dir Ashkenazi
my rough translation,
May it be with "mazel" sefardi, G-d willing Ashkenazi,
"by dir" is yiddish, not sure what it means
"by dir" would be "by you"
ReplyDeletesorry if i didn't fill it in completely......
ReplyDeleteSh'te'hey l'mazal Sefardi, "im yirtze Hashem by dir" Ashkenazi
its I"yh by you
I agree with the translations (the ones from March 29th).
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to add that "Jina Jina" and "Od Yishama" are both wedding rejoicement songs. Jina Jina is Moroccan originated song.
What does the word "ya'alili" mean?
ReplyDeleteWhatever...I love it and it makes me feel good!
ReplyDeleteI'll try to collect the above translations and add a couple of my own:
ReplyDeleteEt Hachatan and Kaleh Naeh are obviously wedding-related, probably different songs ashkenazim and sephardim sing.
Ashkenazim would use the yiddish "mame rochel" while sephardim would use 'rachel imeinu".
Baba Sali was an eminent and very important sephardic rabbi, while certain ashkenazi chassidic groups had Rabbi Nachman as their leader.
Jina Jina is a sephardic wedding song, Od Yeshama is popular among ashkenazim.
Yosi Avi refers to the sephardic band, while Yom Hashmini is a self-reference to "8th day", the name of their own group.
Sephardim would say "moadim lesimcha" on a Yom Tov, while ashkenazim would say "a gut yontiv".
Sephardim would say "shetehei lemazal" or you should be fortunate, i dont quite get the ashkenazi version. people above have said "im yirtzei hashem" bei dir but that clearly isnt what they say in the song.
hope this helped.
"Ya'alili" is a combination of the sepharadic "Ya'lah", a common phrase in sephardic songs which roughly translates as "come on", and "li li li", a common filler in yiddish songs (BTW, the word for 'song' in yiddish is "leid").
ReplyDeleteA common response to a "mazal tov" greeting is "im yirtze Hashem by dir", "G-d willing by you", meaning "May G-d bless you with a joyous occasion too".
Yiddish created the word "Mertschem" as a contracted form of the IY"H
DeleteI was searching for the transliteration but received a whole lot more! Thanks to all for the information! This a a great (and very catchy) song!
ReplyDeleteA more correct lyrics:
ReplyDeleteיאללה יאללה יאלילי
טאנץ חביבי
שתהא למזל שתהא, בענטשן ביי דיר שתהא
"את החתן" הוא ספרדי, "כלה נאה" אשכנזי
"רחל אמנו" הוא ספרדי, "מאמע רחל" אשכנזי
באבא סלי הוא ספרדי, רבי נחמן אשכנזי
"שתהא למזל" הוא ספרדי, "בענטשן ביי דיר" אשכנזי
יאללה יאללה יאלילי
טאנץ חביבי
"ג’ינה ג’ינה" הוא ספרדי, "עוד ישמע" אשכנזי
"יוסי אבי" הוא ספרדי, "יום השמיני" אשכנזי
"מועדים לשמחה" הוא ספרדי, "א גוט יום טוב" אשכנזי
"שתהא למזל" הוא ספרדי, "בענטשן ביי דיר" אשכנזי
"tantz" is Yiddish, while "habibi" is Arabic.
I guess "bentchen by dir" means "blessing on you".
"שתהא למזל" means "may it be fortunate" or "in good time", refering to a wedding or something of the kind.
@Anon 6:41
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics I posted are the correct lyrics, they come from the cover jacket on the album - From the band!
Just to add, some of the words seem different as the are sung quickly to fit the song...
ReplyDeletegreat posts. Just that these words are not sung quickly, but the Yiddish language has transformed the hebrew words into a contracted single word:
Delete"Yontev" (from yom tov) and "Mertschem" (from im yirtse h').
As stated previously, the posted lyrics are from the album cover.
ReplyDeleteThere may be slight variations, as is common with most singers...
I am pretty sure Ya'alili means come together/gather.
ReplyDeletea better transliteration:
ReplyDeleteYa'alili tantz chavivi
Sh'te'hey l'mazal sh'te'hey, met shabdir sh'te'hey
Et hechatan Sefardi, kalleh noel Ashkenazi
Rochel imeinu Sefardi, mame Rochel Ashkenazi
Babba Sali Sefardi, Rabbi Nachman Ashkenazi
Sh'te'hey l'mazal Sefardi, met shabdir Ashkenazi
Ya'alili tantz chavivi
Jina Jina Sefardi, od yishoma Ashkenazi
Yosi Avi Sefardi, Yom Hashmini Ashkenazi
Moadim l'simcha Sefardi, a gut Yom Tov Ashkenazi
Sh'te'hey l'mazal Sefardi, met shabdir Ashkenazi
@nachama
ReplyDeleteLet me re-iterate, the words I posted are correct, they are from the jacket cover that came with the CD.
The only thing I didn't take into account, was the Sephardic pronunciation, which was already pointed out.
where there are two Jews, there will be three opinions; thanks all for the explanations, it's a scheine lid.
ReplyDeleteI love the music to this song, but the words seem so lackluster in comparison! Oh well, I still blast it!
ReplyDeleteSince Sukkot is around the corner, let's just clarify once and for all that "moadim lesimcha" is the equivalent of "a gut moyed" and not of "a gut yontif", which would be "chag sameach"
Onkelus - the difference is that "moadim lesimha" is the traditional Sephardic greeting, while "hag sameah" is not (nor is it very Sephardi).
ReplyDeleteSorry Onkelus, "a gut moyed" is something said on Chol Hamoed by Ashkenazim. The term "moadim lesimcha" is said by Sepharadim on yomtov. So the equivalent Ashkenazi term would be "a gut yontif". I think Eight Day has it correct ...
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm not Jewish, but I love this song! Here's my question. When he says sephardi, it sounds like he's saying O-sepha-ra-di, which I'm sure is incorrect. Can someone transliterate how they're pronouncing sephardi? I'm trying to learn this song to play.
ReplyDeleteTony
Tony,
ReplyDeleteO is not part of the word, the word is Sephardi. The O is there as a musical note only
Great Song! (Like anonymus comment august 1 2011)
ReplyDeleteOne thing the song does is remind me that even Jews still , at heart, are barbarians when it comes to the agony they inflict upon the creatures they butcher! The first scenes of the video are what? Dead fish and chopped up body parts of slain mammals! We are NOT allowed, as Jews, to cause unnecessary pain to animals and since eating them is NOT needed, not required, and in fact, makes so many people have diseases, it should be considered antithetical to Judaism to eat flesh or dairy. Beginning a video about happiness with shots of death is so distressing. When will Jews and humanity stop the mass holocaust upon sea life, land mammals, and birds? It is killing our earth, CREATION, and making us behave like predators. asacredduty.com
ReplyDeleteAnon:
ReplyDeleteWhilst everyone is entitled to their opinion, this is hardly the place to go on a ranting rage about your personal opinion on something that has nothing to do with music. Let's keep this blog strictly music oriented.
Thanks
LOVE this song. The beat and rythm is so great.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the musical style called?
The lyrics are also so great. As it signals unity between branches of judaism it's great. And I get to know a little about jiddish - it's -sorry to say- so like my neighboring tongue; german.
but,what does ya'alili means?
ReplyDeletecould you tell me please?
I don't speak or read one whit of Hebrew, but I enjoy the fact that from what I can gather, the word "ya'alili" is "jibberish." It is a meaningful combination of words but...as of yet, as far as we know... "ya'alili" is not a word itself.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as the song confers when there is a marriage of concepts, the two become one and something is gained as in this case "ya'alili."
As a born again believer in the most high God I have witnessed firsthand the great liberating effect of "speaking, praying and singing in tongues" or "as the spirit gives utterance." Oftentimes what comes out to the unattuned ear is just jibberish but a kinsman or parent (oftentimes such as a mother who has spent time deciphering her child's utterances) who understands what the child is trying to say, even when no one else does...our jobberish is music to the Lord's ears...and this song (especially with the video) is music to mine! I love it!
Learned a lot about this song... Sincere thanks to everyone... Now its time to learn than song at any cost even my tongue doesn't support...
ReplyDelete"Ya'ala" means "Let's GO!" so, the sentiment is most probably, "Let's Go and get moving!"
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete