Hava Nagila—Sing and be happy!Like many popular public domain songs, the precise origins of the words to the famous Jewish song of celebration are a subject of debate. According to Greer Fay Cashman of The Jerusalem Post: "Approximately a century ago, Moshe Nathanson, then a 12- year-old Jerusalem schoolboy, wrote the lyrics for what has arguably become the most widely known Hebrew song: "Hava Nagila." It is performed at Jewish weddings and bar mitzvah celebrations around the world; Hungarian gypsy violinists play it for Israeli tourists; it’s a standard in Zionist youth movements; and it’s part of the repertoire of cantorial groups, as well as many Christian choirs. The Makoya sing it too, and its spirit has captivated prominent entertainers, [such as] Harry Belafonte..." But, according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the man largely responsible for the song's existence in its present form is Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, the father of Jewish Musicology: "Abraham Zevi Idelsohn [1882-1938] [was a] Jewish cantor, composer, and founder of the modern study of the history of Jewish music, and one of the first important ethnomusicologists. "Trained as a cantor from childhood, Idelsohn later studied music in Berlin and Leipzig. Before emigrating to Jerusalem in 1905, he was a cantor in Leipzig and Regensberg, Ger., and in Johannesburg. In Jerusalem he served as a cantor and in 1910 founded the Institute for Jewish Music. The previous year, funded by the Vienna Academy of Sciences, he had begun collecting from oral tradition the music of various European, Asian, and North African Jewish groups. The result was Thesaurus of Hebrew Oriental Melodies, 10 vol. (1914–32). This work and the more than 1,000 recordings made by Idelsohn provided a basis for the first comparative study of Jewish biblical cantillation (intoned recitation) and demonstrated an underlying unity in the religious chants even among geographically widely separated groups. His studies, especially those of the chants of the Yemenite Jews, also led to his further research demonstrating the close relationship of Jewish and early Christian chants. He also did important early studies of the nature of the maqamat, the melodic frameworks used in Islamic music. "Idelsohn also composed the first Hebrew opera, Yiftah (1922; "Jephthah"), which incorporates traditional melodies; an unfinished opera, Eliyahu ("Elijah"); and the song “Hava nagila” (“Come, Let's Rejoice”), a setting of his own text to a melody that he adapted from a Hasidic (a pietistic Jewish movement) melody. His books include Jewish Music in Its Historical Development (1929); Jewish Liturgy (1932); and Sefer ha-shirim, 2 vol. (1913–22; "Book of Songs"), the first Hebrew songbook published in Palestine." Whatever the true origins of the music and lyrics to Hava Nagila, the lyrics are universally uplifting: Hava Nagila Lyrics Havah nagilah -- Let's rejoice
The song was first recorded in Sadigura Hasidim in Jerusalem, in 1915, by Abraham Zevi Idelsohn. Interestingly, the punk band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes performed the song on their album "Ruin Jonnys Bar Mitzvah." You can hear a midi file of the tune to Hava Nagila by clicking here. You can hear a slightly more musically developed version of Hava Nagila, and see the sheet music transcribed here.
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