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Can Someone Help with a Kids Song that’s either Belarussian, Russian or Yiddish?

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Martin 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

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Posted in Belarus, Belarusian, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Israel, Israeli Children's Songs, Languages, Mama Lisa, Questions, Readers Questions, Russia, Russian, Russian Children's Songs, USA, Yiddish, Yiddish Children's Songs | 1 Comment »

Can Someone Help with a Russian or Yiddish Rhyme with the Word “Meesala” or “Misala” In It?

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

Sharon 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

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Finger Plays, Israel, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers Questions, Russia, Russian, Russian Children's Songs, USA, Yiddish, Yiddish Children's Songs | 14 Comments »

A Yiddish Lullaby – Pretty Like the Moon – Sheyn vi di levone

Friday, December 29th, 2006

Last weekend I recorded my husband’s 92 year old grandmother, Edna Pomerantz, singing a verse of a Yiddish Lullaby. It’s called Sheyn vi di levone, or Pretty Like the Moon, in English.

Here you can hear the recording and read the transliterated Yiddish lyrics, followed by an English translation (the last line might be a little different in the recording):

MP3 of Sheyn vi di levone

Sheyn vi di levone
(Yiddish Transliteration)

Sheyn vi di levone,
Likhtik vi di shtern,
Fun himl a matone,
Bistu mir tzugeshikt!

Pretty Like the Moon
(English Translation)

Pretty like the moon
Bright like the stars
From Heaven you were
Sent to me as a present.

Many thanks to Grandma Edna for singing this song for us and to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for helping me with the translation!

-Lisa

Come visit the Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Israel Page for more Yiddish songs.

Check out more lyrics to Sheyn vi di Levone.

While researching this song I came across a site with lots of lyrics to songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Judeo-Spanish, most with English translations.

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Posted in Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Israel, Languages, Lullabies, MP3's, Mama Lisa, Recommendations, Recordings of Songs, Sites about Music, USA, Yiddish, Yiddish Children's Songs, Yiddish Lullabies | 1 Comment »

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Can Someone Help with a Kids Song that’s either Belarussian, Russian or Yiddish?

Can Someone Help with a Russian or Yiddish Rhyme with the Word “Meesala” or “Misala” In It?

A Yiddish Lullaby – Pretty Like the Moon – Sheyn vi di levone