Sharmanshchik
Di Katerinke (Yiddish) → Шарманщик (Russian) → Katerinka Mine (English). This page separates what is documented from what is still being confirmed with Walter.
Act 1
The Yiddish original: a song about a street organ
"Katerinke" was the Yiddish word for a hand-cranked street barrel organ. "Di Katerinke" is a plaintive song sung from the point of view of the organ grinder (katerinshchik). It opens: "Drey, drey katerinke mayn, mayn eyntsiker khaver in mayn noyt un payn," meaning "Spin, spin, my katerinke, my only friend in my need and my pain." The song's conclusion: life is a game, a silly game.
One outside source names the Polish Yiddish songwriter Leyb Olitski (1894-1975) as the author, though this attribution is not fully confirmed everywhere it appears. Known performers of the old song include Karsten Troyke, Sara Gorby and Rosita Londner. A separate, better-documented 1933-34 Second Avenue Yiddish theater musical, "Der Katerinshtshik," shares the organ-grinder theme but is a different work (music by Olshanetsky, lyrics by Chaim Tauber) and should not be confused with this song.
Act 2
The Russian version: Шарманщик
Olga Anikina wrote the Russian poetic text in 2021, inspired by the old melody, the same way she has written the old Yiddish and Hebrew songs again more than thirty five times elsewhere in this catalog. Walter himself writes in Russian only very rarely. In 2025 Walter composed the original music and arrangement, blending klezmer, Jewish chanson and chamber theatrical lyricism. The new version does not copy the old melodies; it builds an authorial sound of its own, performed here by the Riglis Band.
The refrain keeps a line of Yiddish: "Дрей дрей катеринка майн," meaning "Turn, turn, my little hurdy-gurdy."
Act 3
The English version: Katerinka Mine
Unlike the Hanukkah pair, this English version is not built from Olga's Russian text. Words, music and production are Walter's own, 2026, performed by the Riglis Band. It is inspired by the old Yiddish image of the street organ grinder rather than a word-for-word retelling: the wandering musician becomes a witness to fate itself, playing on whatever the day brings.
One thread of Yiddish survives in the refrain: "Drey drey, Katerinka mine," meaning "turn, turn, my little hurdy-gurdy."