Badchan

A Badchan ( Yiddish Badchn, from Aramaic בדח, "cheer up", Pl. Badchonim ), comparable to a bailiff singer , was an entertainment musician in the Jewish environment.

In Ashkenazi Judaism, especially in Poland and the Ukraine , it persisted until immediately before the Holocaust . He was an occasional poet and improviser who often wrote the melodies for his songs.

His most important field of activity was the Jewish wedding , where he performed his songs and at the same time acted as a kind of emcee and master of ceremonies ( called marshalik in this function ).

Well-known Badchonim were Berl Broder , Welwel Zbarzer or Eliakum Zunser .

Literature (selection)

• Joel E. Rubin : Badkhn. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 1: A-Cl. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-476-02501-2 , pp. 239-232.
• Jewish Lexicon , Vol. I. Berlin 1927, Col. 678.