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Archive for the 'Russia' Category
Contents
Posts
Can Anyone Help with a Russian Childrens Music CD?
Friday, May 22nd, 2009Chris wrote:
Hi my name is D. I’m on a mission to find Russian children’s songs. I found your page on the web and liked what I saw. I’m looking to make a CD of Russian children’s songs for personal use. I’ll explain why.
My mom is a foster mom for medically fragile kids (wheelchair and medical miracle kids). she has adopted many handicapped children and is currently going through the process of adopting a 7 yr old boy from Russia. he has severe handicaps that have been complicated over the years by medical experiments gone wrong. she’s a great mom and truly has a heart for these kids. she leaves soon for her first trip to meet him.
Since i have my hands full with my family, i can’t contribute much to her, but would like to show my support for what she is doing. i would love to have a CD of Russian kid’s songs for her to take with her so she can start working at bonding with her new son.
I lack the knowledge of how to obtain such a CD and am looking for help. Your page off google was the best I’ve seen and it really got my hopes up that i can do what I’m looking to do. please help me.
Thank you,
D ChrisHere’s what I found so far…
I found one cd on Amazon of Russian kids songs at:
Children Songs – Constellation of the Hits vol. 2 (in Russian)
If anyone can recommend any other Russian kids cd’s, or if you can help out D., please let us know in the comments below…
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Can Someone Help with the Lyrics to a Russian Song “Chisi Chisi”?
Saturday, March 14th, 2009Mikel is looking for the lyrics of a Russian song. This song is in the family but they don’t know what the lyrics mean. What they sing sounds like “chisi-chisi ietil uil napanta le vozkutpil”.
If anyone could provide the proper spelling in Russian and/or a translation, that would be great. Feel free to write in the comments below or email me at lisa@mamalisa.com. Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Mama Lisa Now Has a Facebook Group
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009We’d love it if you’d join the Mama Lisa Facebook Group. You can post anything you’d like about your culture. You can post your own musical recordings or YouTube videos… Links to culture and musical sites… Photos of your country… Questions about songs or cultural issues… Anything related to World Culture and Music…
Click on the icon below to access the group. If you have a Facebook account already, you just need to click on “Join the Group” to join. If you’re not a member, you simply have to sign up for free to become a member and then you can join the Mama Lisa Group…
Looking forward to seeing you in Facebook!
Mama Lisa
Can Someone Help with a Kids Song that’s either Belarussian, Russian or Yiddish?
Sunday, January 25th, 2009Martin wrote:
Hello from a sunny but quite COLD New York City!
I am wondering if anyone knows the answer to this. Not being too knowledgeable about the Belarusian language, I’m assuming that this song my maternal grandmother used to sing to me when I was in my single digits was in Russian or Yiddish or a combination of any or all of the three languages, something that sounded like:
Kot, mama, kot, mama, kot, kot, kot
Ona dyela masu
Manichka klapot.Does anyone have the full lyrics and musical notation for this song please, and what language(s) constitute the song? Please email as soon as possible. Thank you very much? Martin Peck
If anyone if familiar with this song, and could provide any information about it, please let us know anything you can in the comments below. We’d also love an English translation of possible.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Recording of Russian Rhyme
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008We just added a recording of the Russian finger play Magpie-Magpie – Сорока-Сорока to Mama Lisa’s World’s Russian Song Pages. Click the link for the lyrics, translations and mp3 recording.
Mama Lisa
Can Someone Help with a Ukrainian Rhyme That Sounds Like, “Pitchoo Pitchoo Bopkoo”?
Sunday, July 6th, 2008Suzy wrote…
I wonder if anyone can help me find the meaning to this silly rhyme. I was a little kid when my grandmother used to do this thing with my head in her hands and it phonetically sounded like this (I don’t speak or understand Ukrainian) :
Pitchoo Pitchoo bopkoo
Sedjoonella bobkoo
shi shoolapitch, shi shoolapitch, shi shoolapitchMany thanks, Suzy
If someone can also send the Ukrainian text, that would be great! If anyone can help in any way, please comment below, or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
Looking for a Russian Child’s Finger Play
Monday, May 19th, 2008Sue sent us this question:
Does anyone know a Russian child’s finger play that goes something like this:
saroka verona
na pripchke sidela
….
….(with each finger): tsmudila, tsmudila, tsmudila; tsmudila: aye tsmudila
My grandmother used to play this with me and I’d like to pass it on to my granddaughter.
Thanks.If anyone can help Sue out, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
Looking for Specific Translation to Tum balalaika
Sunday, May 4th, 2008Tum balalaika is a Yiddish folk song. John Ringo wrote me that he was looking for help finding a version from his childhood that’s different than the one we have posted (click the link for our version). Here’s what he wrote…
I was actually looking for a set of lyrics to this I remember from my childhood. I could recall the last two verses but not the first. My recollection (from, gulp, 30+ years ago) was that the introductory verse was less about a ‘young man trying to choose the right wife’ than a minstrel trying to woo a girl smarter than he was.
If I might dare to suggest an alternate translation to the last two verses:
Maiden, maiden, this I must know.
What can grow without rain or snow?
What can blaze and never die?
And what can weep and never cry?Tumbala tumbala tum balalaika
Tumbala tumbala tum balalaika
Tum balalaika, play balalaika
Tum balalaika laugh and be gay.Idle lad you’re joking I know.
A stone can grow without rain or snow.
Love can blaze and never die
And a heart can weep and never cry.Chorus.
It’s just a more singable version in English. I used to use it as a lullabye for my kids.
Now if I can just find the translation of the first verse.
Take care,
John Ringo
If anyone is familiar with a version of the first verse of Tum balalaika that’s about ‘a minstrel trying to woo a girl smarter than he was’, please let us know about it in the comments below, or you can email me.
Thanks in advance!
Lisa
The Symbolism of the Egg
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008As Easter approaches, it’s natural to think a little about eggs!
In days gone by the egg, due to its shape, was a symbol of the earth. Thanks to its obvious association with the beginning of life, it has also been the basis of many ancient creation stories. It has been a symbol of fertility, rebirth and the cycle of life. These latter symbols are so close to what Springtime is all about that it’s no wonder it’s been an important part of Spring celebrations since pre-Christian times.
As Europe became Christian, eggs became a symbol of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus. In the past, Christians gave up eggs for Lent (the 40 days before Easter when it’s customary to give up different types of food). But even though people didn’t eat them, the hens kept laying them! So people would hard boil and decorate them. This would help preserve them longer and serve as part of the holiday festivities.
The egg is also part of the Jewish Passover holiday that takes place in the Spring. The egg is placed on the Seder plate and is a symbol of sacrifice and loss. Yet to some it also symbolizes the full cycle of life, and therefore hope and rebirth. (The egg is a more recent addition to the Seder plate compared to the other symbolic items that are found there and its symbolic meaning seems to be more open to interpretation.)
In China, red eggs are given out at the one month birthday of a new baby. It’s customary to hold a Red Egg and Ginger Party at this time. Once again, the source seems to be the egg’s role as a symbol of fertility and the beginning of life.
So here we come full circle (or oval) with the egg as a wonderful symbol of birth, renewal and rebirth. This is something wonderful to consider as Springtime approaches in the northern hemisphere, where the Earth will soon come back to life!
Feel free to let us know about any special symbolism of the egg in your culture in the comments below.
Elaborately Decorated Eggs for Easter In Eastern Europe
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Guest Blogger, Ed Gawlinski, has been involved in many cultural organizations throughout his life. Here, he discusses Easter traditions in several Eastern European cultures.
A common custom is to color hard boiled eggs for Easter. We usually colored them on Good Friday, while eating hot cross buns…
Hot cross buns,
Hot cross buns,
one ha’ penny,
two ha’ penny,
hot cross buns.If you have no daughters,
give them to your sons,
one ha’ penny,
two ha’ penny,
Hot Cross BunsIn Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Bulgaria, etc.) coloring Easter eggs is a highly developed folk art. In the Polish language there are several different words for colored Easter eggs, each indicating a different technique. The style I know best is called Pisanki. In this you use a stylus to draw on the egg with melted wax. After you draw, you put the egg in the dye. After it dries, you draw some more and then put the egg in a different colored dye. The wax keeps that part of the egg from being dyed. It’s a process similar to batik. Intricate and beautiful patterns are made by skilled artists. I am not a skilled artist, so my eggs were never works of art. But I did have fun trying.
Another style is called Kraszanki. We had an exchange student from Switzerland whose family colored eggs this way. They put onion peels in the water they used to boil the eggs. The eggs came out brown. You could use oak bark or walnut shells to make the eggs black. You could use Marigold flowers to make the eggs yellow.
The opposite approach to pisanki is drapanki. These eggs are first died and then, using a sharp tool, you scratch off the dye to make your designs.
Although elaborately decorated eggs are part of the tradition of all Eastern European countries, each one has its own tradition as far as the patterns used to decorate these eggs.
Can Anyone Help with a Ukrainian or Russian Song about a Butterfly?
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008My friend Marijka, whose family is from Ukraine, is looking for the full words to a childrens song that her grandmother used to sing to her when she was young. It’s about a butterfly. She’s not sure if it’s originally Ukrainian or Russian.
Marijka recorded for me the part she knows. Click here to hear the recording.
If anyone can help with the lyrics to this song, please comment below or email me.
Thanks in advance!
-Mama Lisa
Can Someone Help with a Russian or Yiddish Rhyme with the Word “Meesala” or “Misala” In It?
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007Sharon wrote:
Hi,
I am hoping that someone out there remembers an old game that mothers, grandmothers, aunts and friends used to play with little ones. I think the rhyme is either Russian or Yiddish.
The baby’s hand is held palm up and the mother points her finger into the middle of the child’s hand and says, Meesala, Misala, or something like that, while making circles in the child’s palm. As the poem is repeated, the fingers march up the child’s arm and then tickle the back of the neck.
I remember the action and the feeling, but not the poem.
Help! I want to play this with my grandchildren, and my Grandmother played this with me almost 70 years ago.
Any help would be appreciated.
Best,
Sharon
If anyone knows about this rhyme, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
-Mama Lisa
Can Anyone Help with the Words to a Russian Lullaby?
Sunday, July 29th, 2007Edie Rosen wrote:
Does anyone know the history of the lullaby, My Pigeon House? I would suspect it’s Russian… my grandmother sang it to us when we were little, and she would be way past 100 yrs old today. I sang it to my kids and we are now singing it to my grandchildren.
It’s so wonderful to be able to pass on such an endearing song to my grandchild, who sings along with me when I put him to bed. He has such a look of love in his eyes, and he just turned 2. He loves the ‘coo-ooh’ part near the end.
Okay – here’s my version:
My pigeon house, I open wide and let all the pigeons fly…
They fly over here, and they fly over there and they fly all over the sky…
And when they return from their merry, merry flight…
I shut the door and say – good-night…
Coo-oo Coo-oo Coo-oo Coo-oo Coo-oo Coo-oo Coo-oo.Thanks for posting my question, Lisa.
Edie Rosen
If anyone knows the Russian words to this lullaby and/or the history of it, please comment below, or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
UPDATE: You can find many different versions of My Pigeon House in the comments below, feel free to add one you know!
Here’s a YouTube video I found of My Pigeon House…
Can Someone Help with a Russian or Ukrainian Song?
Saturday, April 14th, 2007I recently received this email:
My mom who was an orphan remembers her dad (from the Ukraine) singing a song that sounds like “estonya monya ti la zuka; estonya monya lo bi…” can anyone relate?
If anyone can help with this song, please comment below, or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
Question about a Russian Kids Song about Tiptoeing through Strawberry Fields
Wednesday, April 4th, 2007Christine Clemmons wrote me…
I have a friend, Renee, who is Russian-American. She is pregnant and due in June. She has told me a few times a story about her Great-Grandfather, who was Russian. He used to sing/say to her when she was a baby something like…
Russian Transliteration
“Huts-ka, Huts-ka Naya Huts-ka”
English Translation
“Tiptoe through the strawberry fields.”
or
“Tiptoe through the tulips.”
I am looking for more information about this and hoping that this might sound familiar to you. I was at your website and saw some of the Russian children’s songs… Any information that you have would be helpful. I would LOVE to be able to find out more about this so that we can share this heritage with her baby! I know she would be so thrilled.
If anyone can help with this song, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
Looking for Info on a Russian Game called The Cat and The Mice
Monday, January 29th, 2007Cyndi wrote to me asking about The Cat and The Mice Game. Here’s what she wrote:
My 6th grader is doing a school project on Russian children’s games. He has chosen a game we found on a website called “The Cat and The Mice”. Unfortunately, this site did not give any history of the game and we have been unsuccessful so far.
I found the game at www.estcomp.ro “Children’s Folk Games”. It was listed under another game called, “Game The Bear”. It’s called “The Cat and The Mice” and the instructions are:
Number of participants – 5 or more. One person becomes a cat. His eyes are closed. All other persons are mice.
They turn him and say:They say:
Where do you stand?
He answers:
On the bridge.
They ask:
What are you drinking?
He answers:
The juice
They run away and cry:
Try to find us and catch!!!
They clap, and the cat with closed eyes must catch someone, and caught person become a cat.I believe this was written by a teacher using English as a second language, so I’m not 100% sure about the instructions. I copied them verbatim from the website, so you could see the difference in grammar. What we need now is where/how the game originated, if anyone is familiar with it.
We spent several hours over the weekend looking on the net and at the local library for information. This is all we’ve been able to find. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
Cyndi Maddox
If anyone can help with more information about this game, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
How to Find Sheet Music, Tunes and MP3’s on Mama Lisa’s World
Saturday, January 6th, 2007In addition to this blog, I also host Mama Lisa’s World. Mama Lisa’s World is a large collection of children’s songs and rhymes from countries all around the globe.
Matt, a music teacher from Rhode Island, wrote a question to me, the other day, about Mama Lisa’s World:
Hey Mama,
I love the concept of your site. It’s been exciting to watch it grow. My only frustration is not being able to find either written (preferably) or audio music to accompany the lyrics. How do I find the tunes for all these great lyrics?
Matt
Music Teacher, Rhode Island, USAHere’s what I wrote back, I’m sharing it with you, in case it helps you too…
Hey Matt,
Thanks for writing!
We’ve just added basic sheet music to a lot of songs on the Germany, France, Hungary, Spain and Mexico pages – plus many others.
We’re now in the process of converting the whole site to a database. We’re halfway through. Hopefully by the summer we’ll have a feature that will let you do a search on songs that have sheet music, midis or mp3’s. Midis play the tune of a song. MP3’s are recordings – usually of someone singing the song.
But for now, the songs on the countries that are in the database are working on a simple system. On the country pages they have symbols next to the song if they have special features. Here’s the key…
KEY TO SYMBOLS
– this song has sheet music
Midi – this song has a Midi tune
MP3 – this song has an MP3 recording
– this song has a Video recording
If there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, you’re welcome to ask – in case I know if we have it or not – I may be able to guide you to the right place to find what you’re looking for.
And, of course, we’re always looking for more sheet music, midi’s and mp3’s, so if you’d like to contribute any from your culture, we’d be thrilled!
I hope this helps!
Mama Lisa
Free Online Language Dictionaries
Friday, December 22nd, 2006While I have this link at hand, I’d like to recommend www.freedict.com. It’s a site devoted to free online language dictionaries. You can translate between English and the following languages:
Afrikaans
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Latin
Norwegian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swahili
SwedishI find that it can usually succeed at translating the words I need.
Feel free to recommend other language dictionaries that you like in the comments below.
-Lisa
Great Link for Language Learning
Monday, December 4th, 2006If you’re trying to learn a new language, I’d recommend checking out LanguageGuide.org.
Users visit different theme related pages (i.e. about insects, the family, the farm). Each page has images related to the theme. You place your cursor over the images and hear their names pronounced and see them spelled out in the language you choose.
Because it’s visually based, these pages can be used by anyone in the world, regardless of your native language.
Here are the languages they have:
English (English)
Italian (Italiano)
Arabic (عربي;)
Spanish (Español)
Portuguese (Português)
Mandarin Chinese (普通话)
French (Français)
Russian (Русский)
Japanese (日本語 Nihongo)
German (Deutsch)
Hebrew (עברית)So if you’re interested in learning any of these languages, or improving your skills, check it out!
-Lisa
Mama Lisa’s World News and Multimedia Features
Thursday, November 30th, 2006A significant part of the Mama Lisa sites is a large collection of songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. We currently have about 750 songs from around 90 countries and cultures.
When you consider how many languages there are in those cultures – that’s a lot of information! In order to make it easier to access all of the songs, we are in the process of converting the sites to a database. The database allow our visitors to search for songs on the site by language, by songs with sheet music, recordings, etc.
While we’re putting the songs into the database, we’re trying to obtain as much information as possible about each song. So if we can find the tune, we’ll include a midi tune and sheet music. If we find a recording of the song on the internet, we’ll provide a link to the recording. Sometimes we’ll make a recording ourselves. Anything we can do to help you know everything possible about that song.
If you happen to see any songs on the site that are missing a tune or recording and you know it, we’d be very pleased if you could help us get the tune. We’re able to make midis from sheet music, if that’s what you can send. We’re also happy to post recordings if you’d like to sing the song, play it on an instrument, or even hum it. Really, anything to help others get an idea how to sing or play the song.
Once the database is complete Mama Lisa’s World will have 98 countries and cultures and over 850 songs. How great is that!
-Lisa
UPDATE: The Database is now complete! We have 100 countries and cultures. We’re now working on a Spanish version of Mama Lisa’s World which will feature children’s songs, folks songs and nursery rhymes from around the world with Spanish translations.
________
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