Re: Nusach Sepharard vs. Nusach Edot HaMizrach

[Moshe Denburg <denburg...>]

Joel Bresler writes:

>Could someone on the list elucidate for me (and all interested others) the
>difference between Nusach Sepharad and Nusach Edot HaMizrach (custom of the
>Eastern Congregations). I am told the former is actually (and confusingly)
>a variant on Ashkenazic chant. 
>
>Sometimes various recordings that I am trying to identify liberally mix and
>match the terms, such as one from Renanot in Jerusalem. The front says (in
>Hebrew) "Shirah uPiyut b'Nusach Sepharad" while the cassette itself says
>"Pirkei Tfilah uPiyut bNusach Edot haMizrach." 
>
>My interests lay with the truly Sephardic music, not the Ashkenaz variants.


Nusach Sepharad may denote two separate things - one, the organization of
the liturgical texts for prayer, and second, the musical modes of prayer.

In Israel, there is an Ashkenazi Rabbinate and a Sephardi one, but there is
no official Mizrachi Rabbinate. The Renanot reference to 'Edot Hamizrach'
refers to Near and Middle Eastern modes for sure - if you have the same
materials I do, you may see above each Piyut a reference to the 'tune' or
'makam' (Arabic for mode) that the Piyut is sung to. This places the music
definitely in the Eastern or Mizrachi camp.

I am not completely certain whether this designation of Mizrachi is used to
refer to the makams of the North African communities as well (Morocco,
Tunisia, etc.), but I would strongly suggest that musically the makams of
North Africa, being part of the larger Turko-Arabic-Persian musical
tradition, are indeed, for our purposes, incorporated in what we refer to as
Mizrachi.

The confusion between the designations of Mizrachi and Sephardi clears up
somewhat if we begin to speak of the *music* as Mizrachi and the liturgical
forms - the preeminent authors of Piyutim were from Sepharad (Spain) - as
Sephardi. 

A further curve may be thrown into the mix when dealing with Ladino and
Spanish forms of Jewish music making, but insofar as the *Synagogue prayer
modes* are concerned, we can safely begin with just the two designations,
Mizrachi and Ashkenazi, imho.

I hope this sheds some light on the matter.

Moshe Denburg