Re: Phish Thread- Al Kol Aileh

[a bisl yidishkayt <klezmer...>]

 Eliezer Kaplan wrote
>Can you still call 'Al Kol Aileh' Jewish music even if you know the melody
>was lifted from Mohammed Abdelwahab? (Guess so...)
>               EK

A parallel example is Khasidic tunes, which were/are sometimes lifted from
secular sources (Napoleonic march, Ukrainian drinking song,
Austro-Hungarian waltz...) and become, most definitely, Jewish, even holy.
There seem to be a couple of interpretations by Khasidm:

        - the melody was imprisoned in an unholy vessel, and by using it
Jewishly, it becomes sacred or redeemed.

        - Rebe Nakhman: when Gentiles do wrong to Jews, G-d will pay
attention to us if we sing Gentile songs!

These are not my original thoughts, rather I first heard about this from
Hankus Netsky. The ideas are summarized from notes explaining Khasidic
"musical acculturation" (and re. why this becomes a religious duty) that
accompany the Jewish Music Research Centre (Hebrew U of Jerusalem) tape
"Hassidic Tunes of Dancing and Rejoicing" [which we carry,
(plug)].


Dena


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