Belf's Romanian Orchestra, vol. I, by Belf's Romanian Orchestra

Belf's Romanian Orchestra, vol. I

by Belf's Romanian Orchestra

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1.	'Rumynskii Zhok' [Romanian Dance] 02:20	info	buy track
2.	Yikhes [Lineage, Legacy] 02:55	info	buy track
3.	Moldavanskaya Dudochka [Moldavian 'Dudkele'] 02:20	info	buy track
4.	Chaban 02:39	info	buy track
5.	Zhok, Rumynskii Taniets ['Joc', Romanian Dance] 02:45	info	buy track
6.	Simkhas Toyre 02:31	info	buy track
7.	Bolgarskaya 02:33	info	buy track
8.	Bolgarskii Zhok [Bulgarian 'Joc'] 02:36	info	buy track
9.	Moldavanskaya ange [Moldavian Honga] 02:49	info	buy track
10.	U Rabina [At (With, By) the Rebbe] 02:27	info	buy track
11.	Nukh Gavdule [Nokh Havdole] 02:56	info	buy track
12.	Fun der Khupe 02:27	info	buy track
13.	Na Rasvete [At Daybreak] 02:42	info	buy track
14.	Bessarabskii Freilikhs [Bessarabian Freylekhs] 02:44	info	buy track
15.	Rumynski Motiv [Romanian Motif] 02:25	info	buy track
16.	Dem Rebens Gavdule [The Rebbe's Havdole] 02:43	info	buy track
17.	Bessarabskii Zhok [Bessarabian Dance] 02:36	info	buy track
18.	Lomir Beytn Got 02:11	info	buy track
19.	Zayt Lustik 02:26	info	buy track
20.	Mayufes [Mayofis] 02:38	info	buy track

about

"Belf's Romanian Orchestra" is a small ensemble of almost mythical importance amongst devotees of 'klezmer' music. Their rough-hewn style captures and transmits something sublime, adding considerably to our base of knowledge of European Jewish Music.

The ensemble consists of clarinet, two violins and piano. The clarinetist seems to be the leader: Whenever confusion or a discrepancy arises, the ensemble follows the clarinet. One of the violinists plays melody exclusively and the other gives rhythmic chordal support.

The label of each disk (translated) credits the performers as:
Romanian Orchestra, under the direction of V. Belf
Most of us assume that Mr. Belf's given name was Volf, most likely rendered in it's diminutive form; 'Velvel'. In Poland, at the time these recordings were issued, "Romanian" would have been generally understood to mean, essentially 'Jewish' (or 'the kind that Jews like').

The pieces in this set were first issued from 1912-1914 by the record company Sirena. Based in Warsaw, which was then part of the Russian Empire, Sirena's pre-WWI record labels were printed entirely in Russian with non-Russian words transliterated into Cyrillic. (This causes some awkward spelling situations: The Yiddish term 'havdule', rendered in Cyrillic, and then transliterated into Roman characters comes out as "gavdule". The Romanian/Yiddish dance term "hora" becomes "gora", "hanga" becomes "ange"...)

All of these recordings were issued on phono disks ten inches in diameter, marketed at the time as "Grand". ("Sirena-Grand-Rekord" was printed on the label, leading some to erroneously think that the record company's name was 'Sirena Grand')

Some of the pieces in this collection have been reissued on LP and CD anthologies. In most cases the records were not transferred at the correct speed, causing them to sound at the wrong pitch and tempo. Here they have been carefully processed to eliminate the improper equalization imposed by playing acoustically-cut records through modern audio amplifiers and the playback speed has been adjusted to reproduce the sound at - as nearly as can be determined - the pitch and tempo at which it was recorded.

credits

released February 4, 2021

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about

muziker Chicago, Illinois

muziker has been collecting and disseminating resources for learning klezmer music since the late 1980s. This work includes collecting rare out-of-print phonograph records and creating high-quality transfers from recordings in other collections and archives. Some of those materials are now being offered here on Bandcamp. Look for more in the future. ... more

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