Sirba

This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that include or refers to the term in question. It also indicates whether musical notation or sound recordings are included in the source. By clicking on the bibliographic hyperlink at the end of each citation, you get the full reference.

 

Sirba (Romanian Sirba) is another traditional Romanian music and dance genre, known throughout the east Carpathian region among co-territorial peoples including Jews, Ukrainians, Transylvanian Hungarians, and even Polish gorale (highlanders from the mountainous regions along the Slovak border). While Romanian sirbas are characterized by 6/8 triplet motion in the melody performed against a brisk 2/4 rhythm, Jewish sirbas -- especially outside Romania -- do not necessarily exhibit these characteristics.

Medleys consisting of a doina, hora, and sirba or other brisk tune are common in non-Jewish musical traditions of northeast Romania and southern Ukraine, and were favored by Jewish musicians from an even wider area. In much of the Balkans, such medleys are described as portraying a sheperd losing a lamb and finding it again.: the melancholic, rubato section reflects his dismay at the loss, the medium-tempo interlude depicts sighting the lost sheep as it gambols about the mountainside, while the final, merry cadences of the brisk dance express the joy of reunion with his wayward ovine...” Alpert 1993, p. 2.

“Sirba: Romanian-Jewish dance tune typified by triplets in the melody over a 2/4 rhythm.” Alpert 1996b, p. 59

“The transitional or ‘Orientalized’ repertoire consisted of the dance genres named volekh, hora, sirba, ange, and bulgarish. In the non-dance cateogry the most important genre was the doyne (doina). In addition, therewere a number of non-dance genres (such as mazltov far di makhetonim) which were related to the zhok--the latter having either a dance or non-dance genre function.”Feldman 1994, pp. 10-27.“Choreographically, the bulgareasca is related to the sirba... Apart from modal and melodic differences, both the sirba and the bulgareasca were rhythmically differentiated from the core klezmer dance genres due to the presence of triplets....the bulgareasca alternates triplets with syncopated phrases frequently using eight-note/quarter-note/eighth-note patterns, with frequent held notes of a half note duration or longer....It is likely that the bulgareasca adopted some of these rhythmic patterns from the Northern Bulgarian pravo dance genre but, in any case, they were exotic in Jewish dance music. Like its choreographic form, the music of the Moldavian bulgareasca is a sub-species of sirba; Stoinav groups his bulgareascas with the sirba (1972)...” Feldman 1994, p. 7-8

“the sirba, the chain dance which is ubiquitous in every region of Moldavia and Wallachia. The sirba is based on a six-beat measure, consisting of cross to the right kick, kick to the right, kick to the left. This dance pattern was alien to Ashkenazic dance, which preferred symmetrical patterns....the [was also] rhythmically differentiated from the core klezmer dance genres due to the presence of triplets....The sirba features running triplets throughout its 2/4 measures...” Feldman 1994, p. 12.         

“The most instrumental of all music is the bulgar. It does not relate to any vocal genre. It goes back to dance music. It is derived from the sirba, but the sirba doesn’t seem to have caught on in Jewish music. There are a few recordings and transcriptions, but evidently it was not popular in New York at that time...” Phillips 1996ab, p. 178

“Freylakh from ‘Doina’ Medley #1. Violinist Leon Ahl played this freylakh after an extended doina...The third and fourth sections have phrasing and melodic contours like a sirba.” Phillips 1996a, p. 94. (Musical notation and recording references included). 

“Freylakhs from ‘Fun Taskhlikh’. This tune is part of a medley apparently related to the Jewish observance of tashlikh...It might be more accurate to call this a sirba what with the continuous sixteenth note quality of this arrangment. It has some interesting shifts between modes with G natural, A flat and A natural.” [Kapelye]. Phillips 1996a, p. 95. (Musical notation and recording references included). 

“[Joseph Moskowitz, 1916] The second tune seems more like a sirba than a freylakh. (I think of a sirba to be a very fast piece played with almost all straight sixteenth notes, with occasional triplet passages...).” Phillips 1996a, pp. 116-17. (Musical notation and recording references included). 

“Sirba #1...Sirba #2...Sirba #3...Sirba #4 [Dave Tarras]...Though called a sirba it lacks that genre’s typical triplets.” Phillips 1996a, pp. 143-47. (Musical notation and recording references included). 

“Sirba #5..This tune was recorded around 1920 [in NY]...[the]style shows the influence of Western art music and the pace is a bit slower than the other sirbas, probably to allow his dense cascade of notes.” Phillips 1996a, p. 150. (Musical notation and recording references included). 

“The Romanian-Jewish sirba, originally a traditional Moldo-Wallachian line dance, is characterized by running melodic triplets accompanied by eighth notes in 2/4 time.” Rubin and Ottens 1995, p. 24. (Recording references included). 

See Bulgar and Freylekhs.


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