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Below is all the information I have been able to collect about "Kaprosh,"
a dance that appears in 2 yizkor books (so far) and is notated
(musically) in an unpublished manuscript. If you know anything about
this dance or song, especially as it may relate to Jewish variants,
please contact
me. What you will find if you scroll down this page are:
Sound clips of the Ukrainian version of the song, yizkor book excerpts/archival
sources
where the kaperush/kaprosh dance is mentioned, and finally a rough translation of the Ukrainian lyrics to the song as well as the
Ukrainian version of the dance. It is likely that the spelling of
Kaprosh was erroneously created, due to transcription into Hebrew and
then back to English (see
Hebrew text).
Sound clips
of the song "Kaperush" in Ukrainian
Version 1
from
http://alatyr.org.ua/music/buttia.htm
Version
2 from
http://www.buttia.kiev.ua/disco1_engl.html cd: Zhyttia Buttia
(literally "Life of Buttia") (2005), Track 5
Yizkor book excerpts
and archival sources that mention "kaprosh"
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Rozniatow/roz103.html
Yizkor Book in Memory of Rozniatow
(Rozhnyativ, Ukraine)
48°56' / 24°9'
Translation of Sefer zikaron le-kehilat Rozniatow
Edited by Shimon Kanc
Published in Tel Aviv, 1974
Rozniatow, Perehinsko, Broszniow and environs societies in Israel and
the USA
***Avraham Zauerberg – the Man and his Activities
by Y. Har-Zohar
"He was a good conversationalist. He was able to tell stories and
gather around him interested people who would drink up his words with
thirst, words that were spiced with humor and jokes. Despite his
Hassidic
appearance, he did not hesitate at weddings to be at the head of those
who entertained and danced in front of the bride and groom. He speedily
removed his outer cloak and hat, and with a kippa (skullcap) on his head
he began to sing and dance "keitzad merakdim, keitzad merakdim" [14].
Accompanied by the enthusiastic group of singers and dancers, he would
speedily arrange the well-known "Kaprosh" dance. He would direct
it and issue the orders. Woe to the dancer who was not able to remove
his shoe quick enough after been issued the command, or to take out his
fringes from the four corners. He would have to pay good money to the
band."
***FromYad Vahsem database:
1)Abraham Sauerberg was born in Jezupol in 1888 to Moshe and Dwora. He
was a leather merchant and married to Tehila. Prior to WWII he lived in
Rozniatow, Poland. During the war he was in Rozniatow, Poland. Abraham
perished in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony
submitted on 16-Jun-1955 by his brother
2)Avraham Sauerberg was born in Jezupol in 1891 to Moshe and Sheindel.
He was a leather merchant. Prior to WWII he lived in Rozniatow, Poland.
During the war he was in Dolina, Poland. Avraham perished in the Shoah.
This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted on
20-Aug-1986 by his brother
This suggests the interwar period as the time that Kaperush/Kaprosh was
danced by Avraham in his community. HW
The Book of Horodenka
(Gorodenka, Ukraine)
48°40' / 25°30'
Edited by: Sh. Meltzer
Published in Tel Aviv, 1963
Read Original Hebrew Text
The Activities of the Hitachdut
Yehoshua Shtreyt
Translation of this passage provided by Leon Balaban on March 8,
2009:
Of great interest were the Shabbat
evening balls called "box evenings" (kestl uvent - Yiddish)...The
highlight of the evening would be kind of a "dance ball" (krentzchen) to
the tunes of our friend Shmuel Shekhter (the son of the Kleyzmer Mosh
Babitzky) who played the violin. We would dance salon dances mixed with
"Hora" and "Kaprosh" dances. And who can fathom the twists of that dance
(Kaprosh), its roots both Hasidic and gentile. The instructor and leader
of this dance was my colleague and childhood friend, Monya Shtachel.
There he was leading the line holding a wet towel with double and triple
knots at the end, and beware any one who doesn't mimic his movements or
follow his instructions. Every transgression was punished immediately
by a whack of the wet towel by the instructor...that's how he made us
dance in the cold nights of the winter till we perspired, sometimes such
a dance would last four or five hours! Yes, those were the days and
nights - never to return again...
Note: other references on the Gorodenka web page indicate the time frame as
some time during the 1920's
From the archives of the Jewishgen listserv., original posting
written by Jeff Wollock based on an
unpublished manuscript notation
from Stanislav, ca. 1940:
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 22:28:55 -0500
Subject: Stanislaver (and region) klezmorim
Dear Galitsyaner Researchers,
Does anyone remember the violinist Jakob (Yankev) Zeltser, or any of the
other musicians that played weddings in Stanislav and vicinity before
the war?
Does anyone remember the special dances that were done at Jewish
weddings in Stanislav, such as: Bojker and Erdewei (also popular in
nearby Carpathian shtetlakh like Yasen, Mitvina, Delyatin and Pereginsky);
Kaperush (a dance where everyone has to imitate exactly what the
leader does.) Or any of the other dances, such as Mitsve-Tants,
Broyges-Tants, slow volokh, sirba, kolomeyka "Kabinya Marisya", Yidishe
Troika, or Hutsulka?
Or wedding songs like "Shrayt shoyn 'Mazel Tov'", "Ot Azoy Makht Men
Khasene Kinder" and "Chipkelakh mit Fasolyes"?
Jeff provided the following commentary about the musical notation in the
manuscript, as compared to the sound clips on this web page(April 1,
2009):
"(1) The A sections are the same, except for
the key, and also on the second clip the B section is cut off, so it
might very well be identical.
(2) very often, Ukrainians play kolomeykas and such (which we would call
a type of freylekhs) considerably faster than Jews would play them.
However, the kaperush (both clips) is moderately fast, has a nice
"Jewish" feel to it. I really like them.
(3) it never fails to amaze me how much information about a given piece
of music is NOT captured by a notated transcription, especially when it
is a mere lead sheet. Your clips give a much better idea of the music
than what I have. To me the clips sound as Jewish as they do Ukrainian.
(4) that being said, I can tell you that the A section as I have it is
nearly identical to what's on your clips; the B section is a little
different, but not very.
The writing (in Yiddish) is: "One man leads the dancers. All the
movements that the leader makes must be imitated by all the others. When
one of them does not imitate it, he pays a fine." "shtrof" could be
translated "penalty," but in any case I think money is meant. Very
little money, of course, but it would add up, and I assume the pot would
have gone to the klezmorim."
No lyrics were provided within the musical notation.
He also commented on the Kabinya Marisya
melody:
""Kabinya Marisya" is actually a very
well-known kolomeyka with the a section in minor (it's not THE "Jewish"
kolomeyka in mi-sheberekh mode), but I don't know whether it always goes
under that name. The tune is also called a kozatchok. There is a
recording of some of these by Shloimke Beckerman on a cassette available
from Kurt Bjorling, and one of the tunes is this. If I recall, there are
four sections, the first in minor, the second in the relative major, the
third in mi-sheberekh, and the last in minor.
Ukrainian version of the song lyrics and
dance:
This rough translation of the Kaperush lyrics and instructions was
contributed to the Jewish Music mailing list by Bob Rothstein on March
5, 2009. Many thanks.
source:
http://www.buttia.kiev.ua/Igry.html
Kaperush:
Only men play. A "leader" is chosen - a clever and agile young man with
a belt in his right hand. The musicians play and sing:
Kape-, kape- kaperush, darling kaperush,
Don't touch what isn't yours because you'll be punished!
Let's go, guys, let's go quickly,
Smoke tobacco, drink beer.
The "leader" approaches each man in the room in turn, puts his right
hand on his shoulder and puts the person behind him, thus gathering
players. When all who want to have joined Kaperush, they all stand in a
single circle. The "leader" shows various movements, for example, he
hops on one foot, walks in single file, waves his arms, dances with a
girl, kisses a girl, picks her up in his arms, etc. The other players
have to repeat everything that the "leader" shows. If someone doesn't
perform the activity or doesn't perform it correctly, the "leader" hits
him painfully with the belt - so that others wouldn't be inclined to do
the same.
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