“Moisés Ville” (Mosesville)

No date. Performed by Max Zalkind, Song by Jevel Katz

This recording of “Moisés Ville” (Mosesville) is sung by Max Zalkind. The original song was written by Jevel Katz, a Polish-Jewish comedian and singer from Argentina. Moisés Ville is a small town in Argentina. It was founded in 1889 by East European Jews escaping pogroms and persecution. By the 1940s, it had four synagogues and a population of about 5,000. Yiddish remained the everyday language there for generations. This popular song celebrates the town as a picturesque little utopia: “A radio plays tango, for the audience out for a stroll/The women are gossiping about what (is?) going on in the town/Who is getting engaged and who will host a bris/And who last Friday burned their knish/In Moisés Ville, my little town/Moisés Ville, my beautiful home/You’re a Jewish state/You’re the pride of Argentina/Moisés Ville!”