Spanish-Jewish Romance Songs

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

One of my favourite pastimes is surfing the net for information about the 
songs we use in Israeli folk dancing (okay, I don?t get out a lot).  A 
favourite of mine is Tsur Mishelo.  I found a site that describes how the 
melody for Tsur Mishelo was originally a Spanish_Jewish romance song called 
La Rosa Enfloresce (www.joods.nl/jmf/en-exsefard.html) but now it is a 
Hebrew song of thanks used on Shabbat.  I also found a cd by Michael Ian 
Elias,"Keep the Light Shining" (which you can listen to on 
www.jewishmusic.com) which really brings out the Spanish influence (as 
opposed to one of our old folk dance recordings which sounds more or less 
electronic).  That aside, the whole process of melodies switching from 
secular to religious, and apparently handed down by women from one 
generation to the next sounds very interesting.  Can anyone with more 
knowledge in this area comment?
Helen


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