Re: Sephardic shul

[Mark Kirschbaum <mkirschb...>]

On Fri, 8 Jan 1993, Benla Den wrote:

> I have gone to services at that Shul. I've also performed there. I didn't
> find the melodies they used that "arabic" sounding. Certainly not like the
> Yemenite stuff I've heard. It was a while ago though...deserves a revisit

Interesting. I think the first thing to do would be to find out just what
kind of Sepharadim they are.As I mentioned, the musical styles of Morocco
are entirely dissimilar to those of Bukhara or Yugoslavia. Also,
traditional Sepharadic music of "Pure Sepharadim" of Holland, Vienna,
Salonica, etc, would have no trace of Middle Eastern influence at all and
would sound much more Western. One other point- the Yemenites are of
interest to ethnomusicologists because they don't sing in Arabic scales-
their music is mostly devoid of semitones, etc. Also, they sing in
fourths, a style they share only with early Gregorian chant and
interestingly enough- the Jews of Cochin, India!
                                                      mark

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