Tumbalalaika Around the World: Israeli Singer Einat Betzalel Sings With L'Orchestre Festival

The Yiddish folk love song Tumbalalaika originated in Eastern Europe in the 19th century, but its exact origin is hard to pinpoint. That hasn't prevented it from being sung and played over and over, not only in places where Yiddish songs are sung, but just about everywhere in the world, in vocal and instrumental versions, in cabarets and in the movies.

Just as we have followed the songs Hava Nagila, Adon Olam, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, and Abanibi as they took different forms as interpreted by a wide variety of singers, musicians, and dancers, we're continuing the series today that we started back in 2012, sharing our 26th version of this universal courting and love song.

Today we're sharing a version by Israeli singer Einat Betzalel. She grew up on a kibbutz near Zichron Ya’acov and at the age of 18 joined a military band. That experience, she says, “was a great learning experience for me. We were performing almost every day throughout various countries.”

After the army Betzalel attended the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and started to work with top artists in Israel, among them Alon Olearchik, who is best known for being one of the founding members of Kaveret.

In this video the words appear in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian.

Enjoy!