[HANASHIR:7607] Kinds o Trope

[Erik L. F. Contzius <contzius...>]

Just in case ya wanted to know....

from the Encyclopedia of Judaism, Jerusalem, 1989, by Eliyahu Schleifer


The signs of the t'amim are universally accepted by all Jews. 
However, their musical interpretation differs from one community to 
the other. One may speak of eight main musical traditions of 
cantillation:

1. Southern Arab Peninsula: Yemen and Hadramaut. This is perhaps one 
of the oldest traditions of cantillation. Theoretically it recognizes 
all the signs of the t'amim, but in practice, some are not used and 
the style of chanting may suggest that the tradition is based on an 
earlier system of cantillation, such as was recorded in the 
Babylonian notation of the seventh century and earlier.

2. The Middle East: Iran, Bukhara, Kurdistan, Georgia, and the 
northern parts of Iraq. Another old tradition, perhaps based 
partially on the old Babylonian system of notation, but musically 
different from the Yemenite tradition.

3. The Near East: Turkey, Syria, central Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt. 
This is known as the "Eastern Sephardi Tradition;" it can be heard 
among some Greek and Balkan communities, and it has become the 
dominant style of the non-Ashkenazi communities of Israel. The 
readers of the Pentateuch strive to give musical meaning to each 
sign, but some of the signs are ignored in reading the Prophets and 
other books. The musical motives are influenced by the Arabic modes 
of the maqam.

4. North Africa: Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. This reflects 
the influence of African pentatonic patterns, especially in 
communities far from the Mediterranean shores.

5. Italy. The ancient tradition of the Italian Jews can still be 
heard in Rome and in the Roman Jewish community of Jerusalem. 
Cheironomy is still used by some of the readers of this tradition.

6. The Sephardi and Portuguese communities of Europe. The so-called 
Western Sephardim may preserve the main features of the original 
Sephardi cantillation melodies.

7. Western European Ashkenazim: German-speaking countries, France, 
some communities of the Netherlands, and England. The tradition, 
which developed in medieval times, was first recorded in European 
cantorial manuals of the 19th century.

8. East-European Ashkenazim. The tradition developed out of the 
Western Ashkenazi cantillation, and has become the dominant style 
among the Ashkenazi communities of Israel and the English-speaking 
countries. The Lithuanian version of this tradition is perhaps the 
most meticulous musical system in existence.
-- 
Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
Elkins Park, PA
contzius (at) home(dot)com

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