Gasn Nign

The literal translation of gas-nign is ‘street tune.’ This is what the klezmorim called the pieces they played on the street while accompanying guests home at night after the wedding feast or the following day after a solemn meal. The most important trait distinguishing these pieces from the wedding repertoire is the triple meter.

Gasn nign is a triple-meter hora, the primary form of the genre among East European Jews, which is common in northeastern Romania and among Bukovina Ukrainians. Among Yiddish-speaking Jews, the triple-meter hora is also called londre or landre, zhok, krumer tants [crooked dance, cf. Bulg. krivo horo] and other terms. American-Jewish musicians often refer to it as ‘slow hora.’