Internet Balalaika Resource
Hava Nagila “Хава нагила” – Balalaika Lesson 32
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Today is 7th of March is a happy festival of Purim and I am releasing Hava Nagila a very famous Jewish tune. This is not particularly a Russian tune but many people asked for Jewish tunes and I will be releasing them from time to time as well.
The melody was taken from an Ukrainian folk dance-song from Bukovina (a variant of Hora). It uses the Phrygian dominant scale, common in music of Romania and Western Ukraine. The commonly used text was probably composed by Abraham Zevi (Zvi) Idelsohn in 1918 to celebrate the British victory in Palestine during World War I as well as the Balfour Declaration.
Hava nagila, hava nagila
Hava nagila venis’mecha
Repeat
Hava neranena, hava neranena
Hava neranena venis’mecha
Repeat
Uru, uru achim
Uru achim belev same’ach
Let us rejoice
and be glad
Repeat
Let us sing
Repeat
Awaken brethren
With a cheerful heart.
