Name that Mode!(Re: Jewish music connection w/ old jingle?)

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

That's the one!  I was put off at first by the wide interval between the first 
and
second degrees, until I played with it for a while.  I think of that C# not as 
the
second degree of the mode, but the flatted third.  The second degree, which in 
the
Jewish use of this mode would be C natural, is pretty much absent in Greek and
Romanian music, from what I can tell.  Greek music also sometimes uses the major
seventh degree as another melodic "stepping stone," though the actual seventh 
degree
of the mode is quite clearly the minor seventh.  The connection of the Romanian 
mode
to makam Rast is clear, especially as played by Greeks, but the question 
remains,
does it have a name in Romanian?

My point in the whole naming question is this:  Since the mode, in a scalar 
sense,
remains the same across all the borders, physical and cultural, but in terms of
melodic use, is distinctly different in each ethnic group, it seems logical to 
use
ech groups terminology when referring to it.  Pretty convoluted sentence, huh?  
I can
do worse!  Seriously, though, we'd use "Rasti" when describing the mode to, say,
Vamvakaris' "Bouzouki, Glenti Tou Dounia," "Hashimoto" to describe "Der Shtiler
Bulgar," but what to use for "Hora lui Louie?"

Owen


Owen

"Paul M. Gifford" wrote:

> Owen Davidson <owend (at) tp(dot)net> wrote:
> >
> > The mode in question (Sherry has taught me to call it "Ha Shem Molokh," 
> > which I
> > do, to everyone's confusion) has a distinctly Romanian quality.  Beside the
> > basic scale, which is a mixolydian mode, its distinguishing feature is the 
> > use
> > of the flatted third and fifth degrees, only when the melodic line is 
> > turning
> > to ascend again: sort of stepping stones.  You hear this stepping-stone 
> > effect
> > explicitly, repetitively, insistently and eternally iterated in Romanian
> > cybalom patterns.  Greeks and Turks use the same mode, and call it "Rast."
> > When the Greeks play it, it sounds quintessentially Greek.  Just think of
> > "Never on Sunday," or "Zorba's Dance."  When the Turks play it, it sounds...
> > well, everything the Turks play sounds Turkish!  So, maybe one of the
> > well-traveled folk on the list can answer me this:  Rast, Shmast!  What do 
> > the
> > Romanians call that mode?  Or do they just call it Music?
> >
> Not sure if you mean this one, but a lot of old Romanian (or
> eastern Wallachian) Gypsy tunes are in this one, often:
>
> Bb C# D E F G Ab
>
> They don't know Turkish terminology for modes, but, from what I've
> read, about 1860 they did. I'd be curious if the above relates to
> a Turkish makam. I don't think this is used in 'muzica populara,' or
> peasants' songs, but only in 'muzica lautareasca,' or Gypsy music.
> There's one traditional "wedding song," for listening at lautari
> weddings, in this mode, but in Eb.  It would be interesting to know
> if this relates to cantorial modes too.  The tunes I'm thinking of
> also descend in this mode.
>

--
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


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