Re: Turkish /Afghani Concert

[Moshe Denburg <denburg...>]

schwartz (at) enter(dot)net (Cantor Neil Schwartz) wrote:
>In article <4mp38k$b48 (at) azure(dot)acsu(dot)buffalo(dot)edu>, septimus (at) 
>acsu(dot)buffalo(dot)edu
>(Shalom Septimus) wrote:
>
>> (snip)
>> 
>> S'funny, I thought that this was a.m.jewish, not a.m.turkish/afghani.
>> 
>> Not quite sure why this was posted here...
>> --
>
>Compared to much of the other irrelevant junk we have been seeing here, this
>post is certainly appropriate.  Who else but the Jewish community will really
>appreciate their Middle Eastern sound?  After all, much of our music is based 
>on the Arabic Makaamat (see Idelsohn "Jewish Music" for an explanation), and
>there is a bit of similarity between traditional Hazzanut and the chant of a 
>knowledgeable Muezzin.  Example:  the Ahava Rabba mode is a modified Phrygian
>with a raised third, but it is also Makaam Hejaz minus some of the microtones 
>we Westerners find difficult.  Believe me, if I lived nearby, I would attend
>this concert!  They should be commended for inviting us.

I completely concur with Cantor Schwartz' comments above. In fact, I 
recently posted my notice regarding upcoming Tzimmes concerts to 
rec.music.arabic  as well as alt.music.jewish. I would go so far as to 
say that one of the raisons d'etre of music is to remind us of our common 
origins, our common humanity. It is, IMHO, especially appropriate for 
Jews and Arabs to look to music as a natural and historical link with one 
another. 

Moshe Denburg