Sephrdc-music-msg - 9/19/09
Period music of the Sephardic Jews.
NOTE: See also the files: Jews-msg, Khazars-msg, Spain-msg, fd-Jewish-msg, guitar-art, music-bib, p-songs-msg, story-sources-msg, dates-msg.
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Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 17:17:18 -0700
From: "Stephen Higa" <mitsuo at uclink4.berkeley.edu>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Introduction (& spiel about music...)
Elonwen:
> Oh lovely! I don't know much about the Mediterranean music, but I'd love to
> learn! I know quite a lot about the medieval music of Scandinavia and
> especially Finland. Old Finnish music is great, filled with the coldness and
> darkness of the winter, you can really feel the rough life.
Cool! Quite the opposite of Mediterranean music, which I might say is
thoroughly soaked with sun and warmth...
> For anybody interested I recommend the album "Suden Aika" from Tellu and the
> early recordings of Hedningarna (Kaksi and Tr=E4d).
Thank you! I shall definitely check those out...
For Se=F1or Rhodri, some recordings of Sephardic music:
First, of course, most songs in the Sephardic folk repertoire you hear on
most recordings have not been proven to have existed before the expulsion
(1492). The only clues we have relate to the lyrics, in that many songs
across Sephardic communities have similar texts, and relatives have been
discovered in Spain today. However, the melodies are widely variant and
seem to be influenced somewhat by the "host" culture, whether Morocco,
Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, or the Americas...
1. two recordings by Altramar, Iberian Garden Vol.1 and 2--They include an
example of a 12th c. Hebrew muwashshah (sung poem), an 11th c. reshut
(pre-liturgical religious poem), and an 11th/12th c. piyyut (religious
poem). Since no music has yet been found for these genres in genuine
medieval documents, Altramar formulates their own melodies based on
contemporary musical descriptions and the modern traditions in these genres.
Their liner notes are just as enjoyable as the music! They also include
some lovely examples of re-created medieval Arabo-Andalusian music...And all
are very convincing. They really do their homework.
2. La Rondinella has produced three wonderful and moving recordings of
Sephardic folk songs. Here, they aren't going for that "early music" feel
you're trying to stay away from--rather, they present the songs more like
European folk music, unlike the groups who imagine the songs as pseudo-Arab
music. The simple arrangements, featuring only guitar and the lovely alto
of Alice Kosloski on most, sometimes introducing renaissance and folk bowed
strings, recorders, or simple percussion. The instrumentalists sometimes
join in with vocal harmonies on the refrains.
It doesn't sound as if they are trying to present the songs the way they
might have sounded if indeed they'd existed before the expulsion, but they
nevertheless capture the spirit and beauty of the music better than any
other recording I've yet heard. Very haunting. Try giving them a listen on
Amazon.com if you have RealPlayer.
3. Sarband brings out the Arabic qualities of the music. A few songs are
convincing, and the vocalists are for the most part sufficiently believable
(i.e., no bel canto). They include the only two songs in my (limited)
knowledge ("Calvi, calvi" and "Ea Judios") that have been documented as
medieval (15th c.). I don't own any of their CDs, so I don't know if they
know this (I haven't seen their liner notes)--but these songs were the two
examples in an article I read about secular Jewish music in medieval Spain
in a book on Medieval Jewish music I found in our music library.
4. Two artists not in the "early music" field but the world music field (why
do I keep accidentally typing "fiend??") are Ruth Yaakov and Judy Frankel.
Yaakov demonstrates how the Sephardic and Balkan musical traditions merged
in Greece, and Frankel brings out the Spanish qualities. I don't own any of
their CDs, but have heard portions of them. Yaakov's voice seems very
proficient in the Balkan folk idiom, and Frankel's voice is lyrical and
sweet.
5. I haven't checked out the Boston Camerata's "The Sacred Bridge" yet, but
Joel Cohen has never ceased to amaze me with his other recordings. So it's
worth a try. This CD is subtitled "Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe"
and includes some pieces by a 13th c. Jewish trouvere (!).
More recordings than you'd ever want to know about, I know. :)
Moshe ibn Yishma'el
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"Foldatz ed e leujaria
quar part vostres mandamens
vos am, pero per nuls sens
ma foudat no'm camiaria."
--Berenguer de Palol (12th c.)
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