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This video is a cooperative effort by Rubin Records and Belbird Productions. It is thought of as our New Year present for the many English-speaking fans of Takeo Ischi who have long loved Bibi Hendl but did not understand the Southern Bavarian language in which he was singing. This language is normally treated as a dialect of standard High German (the official language of Germany and Austria), but, in fact, is as different from the standard German language as for example Dutch is. The popularity of this song is a great tribute to Mr Ischi's artistry as a singer, as a yodeler, and also, very importantly, to his comic genius as an actor. It was decided to use the original video and to do a voice over with Mr Ischi singing in English with the English version of Bibi Hendl being taken from “The Chicken and the Egg,“ a CD that represents a joint creative effort by Belbird Productions with Rubin Records. In addition to its main song which Mr Ischi sang in English (“The Chicken and the Egg: YouTube-Link: “), Mr Ischi also sang English translations of his most popular other songs, including “Bibi Hendl.“ Accordingly. it is this CD version which we have used. We hope that listeners will approve of our artistic choices, even though it means that Mr Ischi's lip movements do not match the English as well as some listeners might wish. We hope that the other, irreplaceable, qualities of the video will make up for that. Another point for which we need to ask the listener's indulgence is with regard to the lyrics. They are not an exact, word for word, translation. Rather, in translating Southern Bavarian into English, it was decided to be 100 percent faithful to the original rhythmic patterns of the song and to try to capture as fully as possible the spirit in which it was written and the humor which it was intended to convey. In the process, even though the literal meaning of the words is different from time to time from that of the original, we feel that our translator has been fully faithful to the intentions the original song-writer had for the song and which Mr Ischi so brilliantly brought to life. If Belbird Productions has been able to contribute a bit to promoting a happy holiday atmosphere for the new year that has, for so many people in the world, not been a good one, we will be satisfied. With best wishes to all Belbird Productions, Japan & Rubin-Records, Germany
