Hava Nagila

Hava Nagila (Hebrew: הבה נגילה‎, Havah Nagilah, "Let us rejoice") is an Israeli folk song traditionally sung at Jewish celebrations.

History

Hava Nagila is one of the first modern Israeli folk songs in the Hebrew language. It went on to become a staple of band performers at Jewish weddings and bar/bat(b'nei) mitzvah celebrations.

The melody is based on a Hassidic Nigun.[1] It was composed in 1918, to celebrate the Balfour Declaration and the British victory over the Turks in 1917. It was first performed in a mixed choir concert in Jerusalem.[2]

Abraham Zevi Idelsohn (1882–1938), a professor at Hebrew University, began cataloging all known Jewish music and teaching classes in musical composition; one of his students was a promising cantorial student, Moshe Nathanson, who with the rest of his class was presented by the professor with a 19th-century, slow, melodious, chant (niggun or nigun) and assigned to add rhythm and words to fashion a modern Hebrew song. There are competing claims regarding Hava Nagila's composer, with both Idelsohn and Nathanson being suggested.[3][4]

The niggun has been attributed to the Sadigurer Chasidim, who lived in what is now Ukraine.[3] This version has been recreated by Daniel Gil.[5] The text was probably refined by Idelsohn.[6] Members of the community began to immigrate to Jerusalem in 1915, and Idelsohn wrote in 1932 that he had been inspired by that melody.[2]

The lyrics are based on Psalm 118 (verse 24) of the Hebrew Bible. The first commercial recording of the song was produced in Berlin in 1922.[2]

Lyrics

Transliteration	Hebrew text		English translation
Hava nagila	הבה נגילה		Let's rejoice
Hava nagila	הבה נגילה		Let's rejoice
Hava nagila ve-nismeḥa	הבה נגילה ונשמחה		Let's rejoice and be happy
	(repeat)
Hava neranenah	הבה נרננה		Let's sing
Hava neranenah	הבה נרננה		Let's sing
Hava neranenah ve-nismeḥa	הבה נרננה ונשמחה		Let's sing and be happy
	(repeat)
Uru, uru aḥim!	!עורו, עורו אחים		Awake, awake, my brothers!
Uru aḥim be-lev sameaḥ	עורו אחים בלב שמח		Awake my brothers with a happy heart
	(repeat line four times)
Uru aḥim, uru aḥim!	!עורו אחים, עורו אחים		Awake, my brothers, awake, my brothers!
Be-lev sameaḥ	בלב שמח		With a happy heart

Note: The "ḥ" should preferably be pronounced as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative [ħ] (as in classical Hebrew) rather than a voiceless uvular fricative [χ], as "ch" as in Bach (modern Hebrew pronunciation).

Notable performers

• Idelsohn produced the first commercial recording in 1922, on the Polyphon record label ("Order No. 8533."), as part of a series which recorded 39 Hebrew folk songs.[7]
• Singer Harry Belafonte is known for his version of the song, which was recorded for his album Belafonte at Carnegie Hall in 1959.[8] He rarely gave a concert without singing it, and stated that the two “stand out” songs from his professional career were “The Banana Boat Song,” and “Hava Nagila”.[3][9] Belafonte noted and claimed, "Life is not worthwhile without it. Most Jews in America learned that song from me."[10]
• Irving Fields[9]
• Betty Madigan, "Dance Everyone Dance" (US #31, 1958)[11]
• Chubby Checker[9]
• Connie Francis[9]
• Dick Dale and the Del Tones (surf rock)[9]
• Glen Campbell[9]
• Celia Cruz[9]
• Bob Dylan[9]
• Frank Slay and his Orchestra, "Flying Circle" (US #45, 1962)[11]
• The Spotnicks[12]
• Four Jacks and a Jill released a version of the song on their 1965 album, Jimmy Come Lately.[13]
• Lena Horne, "Now!" (US #92, 1963)[9][11]
• Jon Lord of Deep Purple included Hava Nagila in his solo keyboard improvisations as heard on Made in Europe (1975).[14]
• Neil Diamond, in addition to having performed Hava Nagila in his 1994 Live In America concert,[15] incorporated it into The Jazz Singer, based on Samson Raphaelson's play, in which he acted out a cantor with popular-music ambitions.
• Party Animals
• Pete Townshend, whose ability to play the song was instrumental to his induction in The Who.[16]
• Brave Combo[17]
• Dream Theater performed a cover of "Hava Nagila" in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 16, 2009.[18]
• Israeli singer Carmela Corren[19]
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes[20]

Use in sports

Association football

Ajax Amsterdam

Supporters of the Dutch association football club AFC Ajax, although not an official Jewish club, commonly use Jewish imagery. A central part of Ajax fans' culture, the song Hava Nagila can often be heard sung in the Stadium by the team's supporters, and at one point ringtones of "Hava Nagila" could even be downloaded from the club's official website.[21][22][23]

Tottenham Hotspur

Supporters of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur commonly refer to themselves as Yids and are strongly associated with Jewish symbolism and culture. "Hava Nagila" has been adopted as an anthem of sorts by the club, and was one of the most frequently sung songs at White Hart Lane.[24][25]

2012 London Olympics

In the 2012 London Olympics, American Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman used the song for her floor routine, for which she earned the Olympic Gold Medal.

See also

• Music of Israel
• Hora (dance)

References

1. Loeffler, James. "Hava Nagila's Long, Strange Trip. The unlikely history of a Hasidic melody". myjewishlearning.com. My Jewish Learning. Like many modern Israeli and popular Jewish songs, Hava Nagila began its life as a Hasidic melody in Eastern Europe
2. The secret history of Hava Nagila
3. Roberta Grossman, Director/Producer; Sophie Sartain, Writer/Producer (2012). Hava Nagila (The Movie) (NTSC B&W and color, widescreen, closed-captioned). Los Angeles, CA, USA: Katahdin Productions, More Horses Productions. OCLC 859211976. Retrieved 3 September 2015. The song you thought you knew. The story you won't believe.
4. NPR staff, 2013, "Film Hoists 'Hava Nagila' Up Onto A Chair, In Celebration Of Song And Dance." NPR (online), February 28, 2013, see , accessed 3 September 2015.
5. Hava Nagila - The Original, & Unaltered Hasidic Melody
6. Yudelson, Larry. "Who wrote Havah Nagilah?". RadioHazak. Larry Yudelson. Archived from the original on 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
7. Joffe: Abraham Zvi Idelsohn
8. Belafonte, Harry (1959) Belafonte at Carnegie Hall: The Complete Concert (LP) RCA Victor LOC-6006
9. "Hava Nagila, What Is It? (Part I)" at YouTube
10. Leland, John. (2004) Hip: The History, New York, NY, USA: HarperCollins, p. 206.
11. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
12. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 521. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
13. Four Jacks and a Jill, Jimmy Come Lately Retrieved May 13, 2015
14. "Set Lists 1968 to 1976". The Highway Star. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
15. Neil Diamond Live In America 1994, at YouTube
16. Rogovoy, Seth (2019-11-12). "The Secret Jewish History of The Who". The Forward. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
17. "Hava Nagila Twist", on The Hokey Pokey:Organized Dancing (1991)
18. Dream Theater: vídeo de música Judaica no show em Israel, luew, 19/06/09
19. https://www.discogs.com/Carmela-Corren-International/release/10217442#
20. "Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah". Fat Wreck Chords. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
21. Amsterdam Journal; A Dutch Soccer Riddle: Jewish Regalia Without Jews, The New York Times, 28 March 2005.
22. Hava Nagila! – Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad, 15 October 2013
23. 'Waar komt de geuzennaam 'Joden' toch vandaan?', Het Parool, 1 February 2014.
24. Promised Land: A Northern Love Story – Anthony Clavane, 12 February 2014
25. The Yid Army’s chants turn anti-semitism into kitsch banter, Financial Times, 20 September 2013.

External links

• Hava Nagila's Long, Strange Trip at My Jewish Learning
• Hora Music, How do you sing and dance "Hava Nagila" - lyrics and steps
• Who wrote "Havah Nagilah"?
• Hava Nagila at HebrewSongs.com
• Discogs search for other remakes of "Hava Nagila"
• Historical research includes first recording of Hava Nagila
• Romani version of "Hava Nagila" (Aven, rromalen)
• "Hava Nagilah", What Is It?
• Harry Belafonte sings "Hava Nagila" with Danny Kaye (1966) on YouTube
• Hava Nagila - The Original, & Unaltered Hasidic Melody