Hungarian folksong collected by Béla Bartók

Általmennék én a Tiszán ladikon ("I would cross the Tisza")

Ocho Candelikas

Durme Durme

Komm Lieber May

Jerusalem

If You Dance

Magic Penny (by Malvina Reynolds)

Love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

It's just like a magic penny,
Hold it tight and you won't have any. 
Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away, 
You end up having more.

Money's dandy and we like to use it, 1
But love is better if you don't refuse it.
It's a treasure and you'll never lose it
Unless you lock up your door.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more...

Magic Penny (Love Is something if you give it away)

Kumbaya

I Am A Happy Wanderer

I fell in love with a breeze,
A breeze of a woman so beautiful,
A beauty in my heart.
I fell in love at night,
The moon deceived me - were it day,
Love would not have caught me.
If I ever fall in love again, 
I'll do it on a sunny day!

Yo m'enamori d'un aire ("I fell in love with a breeze")

German children's song, translation:

All the birds, all of them!
What a singing, music-making,
Whistling, chirping, tira-lir-ing!
Spring wants to come right in,
Coming with song and sounds.

How cheerful they all are, 
Nimble and gay they stir about
Blackbirds, thrushes, finches and starlings,
And the whole flock of birds
Wishes you a happy new year,
Greater well-being and blessing.

What they tell us now
We take to heart:
We want to be happy too, 
Happy like the little birds,
Here and there, in the fields and out, 
Singing, jumping, joking around.

Alle Vögel sind schon da ("All the birds are already here")

Keine Feuer, keine Kohle kann brennen so heiß
Als heimliche Liebe, von der niemand nicht weiß.

Keine Rose, keine Nelke kann blühen so schön,
Als wenn zwei verliebte Seelen so bei einander stehn.

Setze du mir einen Spiegel ins Herz mir hinein,
Damit du kannst sehen, wie so treu ich es mein'!

Translation:
No fire, no coal can burn so hot
As a secret love that no one knows.

No rose, no carnation can bloom so beautifully
As when two souls in love stand together.

If you were to put a mirror in my heart,
You would see how so faithful is mine.

Keine Feuer, Keine Kohle ("No fire, no coal")

Miriam Kelemen Solis lived her first sixteen years in Budapest, Hungary, where she attended the School of the Arts. She married in San Francisco, where she continued to study for her BA and MA, first at City College and later at the University of San Francisco. She taught for more than thirty years at various public and private schools.  She also taught music privately, working with 31 piano students a week and several voice students as well. In 1959 she joined the San Francisco Municipal Chorus and sang with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for many years. She still sings in choruses including the San Francisco City Chorus.  After retiring from teaching, Miriam became a docent at Muir Woods, the Academy of Sciences, Audubon Canyon Ranch, and the San Francisco Botanical Gardens, working with children and adults on ecological concerns. She is the mother of three beautiful daughters and four wonderful grandchildren.

MKS put together this group of folksongs from various cultures. As a teacher from early childhood to high school levels, she used group singing as a reward for finishing the tasks in all classes before the bell rang. Whether it was a class in math, science or just English, if the students finished her wish for the day's work, singing ended the class as a special treat. 

Note: the paintings on silk included among the pictures are her own creations.

Miriam Kelemen

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