Saturday, 24 September 2016

BADKHN KHONEN (ḤANAN)

BADKHN KHONEN (ḤANAN) (1840s-early 20th century)
            He lived in Smorgon (Smarhon, Smargon), Vilna district, where he was, aside from a wedding entertainer (badkhn), also a popular musician, a chorister with cantors, and—when there were no celebratory events, for example during the days of counting the omer—he worked as a cobbler.  He brought out a number of collections of his entertaining verses, such as: Seu zimra, shtetl zikh for melodyen (Performing melodies), “(a) a song of precious money in an oppressive world; (b) a song of the sunbathers” (Vilna: A. H. Katsenelenboygn, 1877), 16 pp.; Shir nekhmad, oder di reyne neshome (A charming poem, or a pure soul), “(a) a poem like the soul supporting an angel” (Vilna, 1877), 44 pp.; Shire ḥedva, dray naye lider tsum zingen mit melodyen (Poems of joy, three new poems to sing with melodies), “(a) With the apple tree; (b) From the false world, as one deludes a Talmud student in a marriage arrangement” (Vilna: Hillel Dvorzets, 1874), 32 pp.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol.1.


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