There was a Pete Seeger song in the early 50s about a wonderful Russian town where Soviet Jews were happy to go live and work. The real-life town, of course, was a Stalinist nightmare, but I need to find out the name of the song and town. Does this ring any bells with anyone?
I dont know much about the guy, but a quick search came up with : Hey Zhankoye
Seeger did the English version, its based in Sevastapol.
May not be what you’re lookin’ for though, he may have done many Russian influenced songs, being the guy he was.
“Hey Zhankoye” is the one.
Sample lyric:
"Hey Zhan hey Zhankoye
Hey Zhanvili, hey Zhankoye
Hey Zhankoye, Dzhan, Dzhan, Dzhan
Now if you look for paradise
You’ll see it there before your eyes
Stop your search and go no farther on
There we have a collective farm
All run by husky Jewish arms
At Zhankoye, Dzhan, Dzhan, Dzhan"
Apparently Zhankoye was one of several agricultural towns where Stalin “resettled” Russian jews. Don’t have any info about whether/how it was particularly grim, but I expect there weren’t a lot of nice places to live in Stalinist Russia, particularly for jews.
Yep, that’s the one. Thanks!