73. Singing, Singing [Zionist]

Venus Lane. Recorded by Barbara Johnson in Israel, 2006; I-25.

Pāḍuka pāḍuka  nammaḷŏkkě, taṃburānḍě tirumuṃbil
Kīṟttanaṅṅaḷ pāḍuṃboḷ, sandoṣaṃ pūņḍāḍuṃbo

1. Singing, singing, all together, in the holy Presence of God!
As we’re singing hymns of praise, so our hearts are full of joy.

2. Dr. Chaim Weizmann—with long life may he be blessed!
Mr. David Ben-Gurion—with long life may he be blessed!

3. Throughout all of two thousand years, we were living just like slaves.
After those two thousand years, now at last we have a state.

4. If we Jews throughout the world want to go to Israel,
We must suffer sacrifice. Whatever comes, we must endure.

5. If we are born then we must die, but while alive we must succeed.
If we are to go to Israel, we must be ready, firm, and strong.

6. Enjoy this day of liberty. In thundering happiness rejoice!
By singing, singing songs of joy, may God be praised forevermore!

The text of this Zionist song appears in three notebooks, all from Parur. Ruby Daniel from Kochi may have been mistaken in attributing it to the learned Parur leader Eliyahu Meyer when she included it in our book (Daniel and Johnson 1995, 94–95), for his authorship was not mentioned by any of the singers from Parur. The lively melody and the first stanza are taken from an older devotional song with the same title (song 63)—also from Parur—which is an adaptation of the popular piyyut Adon Olam (’Areshet 1980, 222). 

This Zionist song can be dated to the early 1950s by its blessing of Israeli President Chaim Weizmann, who died in November 1952. It illustrates well the phenomenon of “wandering” phrases and themes in the corpus of Malayalam Jewish songs. In addition to its direct repetition of the first stanza of song 63, the contents of stanza 3 echo the first stanzas of the older Zionist song “Our Country” (song 70). Also, a similar tribute to Ben-Gurion and Weizmann is found in the 1950s stanzas added on as part II to the earlier song 71 (“Our Ancient Hope”).