Re: Jewish Reform Folk Liturgy.

[janeen kobrinsky <janeenk...>]

Dear Brian...and Judah

"Donny Maseng's yigdal" is actually an old sephardic tune from
Constantinople...it isn't new at all...and I've introduced it here as
well.  It is a magnificent melody.  You can find it in Pasternak's
Sephardic collection.

Liturgy, to me, means anything that is in the siddur...as opposed to
secular Jewish music.

I'm also troubled by the word "folk"...I don't think this really applies
to the contemporary Jewish Musicians...ie Klepper, Friedman et al...
it would, be more appropriate to call the Turkish Yigdal "folk"...then
to call the "new" music folk.  And I don't think that folk just implies
a guitar.

I find it interesting that at Hava Nashira, anything goes in terms of
music.  Friedman teaches Reigesh and D'veykuss melodies, Maseng does all
kinds of traditional Sephardic tunes, Klepper pulls out incredible
traditional stuff...everyone does everything...and it's all used in all
manner of denominational contexts.  Aside from the Jewish Music
Ethnologists (and the singers/songleaders/cantors), few folks really
know or are concerned about the roots of the melodies...they just love
them and sing them.

I'm currently on a Carlebach revival...to some in our congregation
they're like old friends and to others they are new and could be either
just written or 200 years old.  We've handed out percussions instruments
for our closing song a few times...and (even in our tiny congregation in
Fargo ND) the ruach would just blow you away.

This has really been a rambling on...but it's interesting stuff.

Oh, I've been doing Yiddish songs with our littlest kids...maybe someday
my Spanish pronunciation will be good enough to try some Ladino pieces.

You know, my daughter is involved with a folk dance troupe at one of the
Universities here.  She enjoys it as a way of learning a people's
history, as is the history of visual art, and as is the musical
traditions of people.

Similarly, what's fascinating about Jewish music is that it has
everything from every place that we've lived, from every culture that
we've rubbed shoulders with...it really tells it's own story...and the
contemporary stuff is another wonderful link in the chain.

enough rambling
b'shalom
janeen


http://rrnet.com/~janeenk