Re: Ottoman surprise

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Owen,

Believe it or not, I was just thinking about Marko Melkon today -- he
accompanies Jack Mayesh on a Judeo-Spanish song on 78 from the 1940s. The
record is in the collection of a Greek American in the midwest, and is
really quite rare.

Wasn't MERE his label? (MElkon REcords?) And succeeded by Balkan? I would
love a history.

WRT to the brothers Blumenthal, they started the first indigenous record
label in Turkey, and released more Sephardic 78s than any other record
company ever.

I would dearly love to get more information on the Blumenthals, copies of
the Orfeon/Orfeos catalog, and not least, some of their recordings! If you
can be of any help, that would be great.

Great to get a little Sephardi tam <G> going on the list...

Joel


 At 12:27 PM 4/2/98 -0500, you wrote:
>There was indeed a lot of musical interaction among the ethnic groups.  Some
>of the greatest exponents of Turkish art music were Armenians (such as oud
>virtuoso Marko Melkon).  One of the best-loved singers of Smyrniot Greek
>cafe music was a Jewish woman named Roza Eskinazi.  And there was a
>recording studio in Istanbul run by music store owners Julius and Hermann
>Blumenthal, who recorded Turkish art music.
>
>Owen
>
>
>
>At 12:03 AM 4/2/98 EST, you wrote:
>>I remember hearing on Sunrise Semester that cities in earlier Ottoman times
>>had Jewish, Christian, Armenian and Islamic Quarters.  Everybody had their
>>respected identity, trade worked, cultures kept together for cultural
>>integrity and dealt around town for economic practicality.  I remember
>>thinking that it was a remarkably enlightened system... a far cry from
>>"Mohammed or the sword."  
>>
>>I'll bet there was some great fusion proto-klezmer jamming too!
>>
>>-Stan
>>
>>
>_________________________________________________________________________
>        Owen Davidson, Amherst, Mass.
>       The Wholesale Klezmer Band
>
>       The Angel that presided o'er my birth
>       Said Little creature formd of Joy and Mirth,
>       Go love without the help of any King on Earth. 
>
>                               Wm. Blake       
>
>
>


Joel Bresler
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