Re: The Music of the Mountain Jews

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Simon,

Don't be a tease.

How can we get our hands on these goodies?

I know that we could get them directly from Israel, but I haven't seen
them anywhere else in the states, so perhaps Ari would agree that you
could tell us your terms.

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Klezcorner (at) aol(dot)com <Klezcorner (at) aol(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Sunday, February 14, 1999 3:38 PM
Subject: The Music of the Mountain Jews


>We have just received a shipment of some of the most unusual and
fascinating
>Jewish Music I have ever heard.
>Since this is all new to me , I will quote from the accompanying
booklet.
>
>"The Music of the Mountain Jews"
>
>The term Mountain Jews is a general designation for the Jews dwelling
in the
>eastern Caucasus(Azervbaijan, Chechnya, Daghestan, and
Kavbardino-Balkar). It
>appears for the first time in the Russian language (gorsky yevrey)
during the
>first half of the 19th Century, when the Russian Empire conquered
eastern
>Caucasus. The Mountain Jews called themselves "Juhur".
Linguistically, the
>language of the Mountain Jews, Juhuri, is related to Northern Iranian
dialects
>of Persian, reflecting the geographical origin of this Jewish tribe.
Through
>the ages, these Jews absorbed Azeri and Hebrew words into their local
language
>which eventually evolved into the present Juhuri or Judeo-Tat. After
the
>conquest of the Caucasus by the soviets, Russian became the 2nd
language of
>the Jews. The Judeo-Tat language was originally written in Hebrew
>characters:in  1929 the Latin alphabet, and afterwards in a Cyrillic
based
>alphabet were adopted.
>The present recordings includes examples of different genres of
litergical,
>folk and instrumental music of the Mountain Jews. This music was
recorded on
>location among the Jewish communities of the Caucasus and more
recently among
>those who immigrated to Israel in large numbers after 1989.
>
>This recording includes four musical genres of the Mountain Jews:
liturgical,
>folk song, dance and Azeri music (Mugham). The close relations
between Jews
>and Muslims in eastern and northern Caucasus throughout the past 500
years are
>particularly reflected in the instrumental music of the Jews; these
two
>groups[ share repertoires, musical instruments, musical genres and
actual
>performances. In mixed villages it was common for Jews to invite
Muslims to
>their celebrations and vice versa. It was customary for Muslims to
engage
>Jewish Musicians for their festivities.
>
> The musical instruments on these performances include;
>Aziatskay Grmoshka ( Asian accordion)
>Balaban-"a diatonic double-reed oboe" (called "duduk" in Armenian)
>Zurnov-also a double-reed oboe
>Komoncha-"a spike fiddle of four strings...the player holds the
instrument on
>his knees, perpendicular to his body, moving the instrument sideways
in order
>to create special effects.
>Tar-the Caucasian version of the plucked longneck lute of ancient
Persian
>origin.
>Ghovol-called "nagara" in Azeri- is a cylindrical drum consisting of
a wooden
>frame and two membranes. Also called "tap" in northern Caucasus.
>
>The booklet accompanying this CD consists of 16 pages in English, and
7 pages
>in Hebrew. This is an EXCELLENT recording!
>
>Another Cd in this series is called "Ottoman Hebrew Sacred Songs"
performed by
>Samuel Benaroya, sung without any musical instrumentation.
>
>Simon
>Hatikvah Music
>
>
>
>.
>
>----------------------
jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+
>