Basarabye - Yiddish song from Bessarabia

Jewish folk song by Brave old World, violin by Itzhak Perlman, sung by Michael Alpert. With images related to Bessarabian Jews. The melody reflects Romanian musical traditions, as they had a great impact on Klezmer (and vice versa) Bessarabia is a historical region between the Dniester and Prut Rivers and the lower reaches of the Danube. Today, most of Bessarabia is in Moldova, with some districts in southern Ukraine. The history of Jews in Bessarabia dates back hundreds of years. In 1897 the total population of Bessarabia was 1,936,392, of whom 225,637, or per cent, were Jews. 12.5% of Bessarabian Jewry were farmers, and the region became among the largest and most important centers of Jewish agriculture in the Russian Empire.