Re: Phish Thread- Al Kol Aileh

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Robert,

Fascinating stuff.  I believe that this is the book/CD you referred
to:

Shelemay, Kay Kaufman Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance
among Syrian Jews. xviii, 292 p., 23
halftones, 3 line drawings, 17 musical examples. CD included. CSE 1998

Cloth $65.00tx 0-226-75211-9
Paper $25.00tx 0-226-75212-7

When Jews left Aleppo, Syria, in the early twentieth century and
established communities abroad, they carried with them
a repertory of songs (pizmonim) with sacred Hebrew texts set to
melodies borrowed from the popular Middle Eastern
Arab musical tradition. Let Jasmine Rain Down tells the story of the
pizmonim as they have continued to be composed,
performed, and transformed through the present day; it is thus an
innovative ethnography of an important Judeo-Arabic
musical tradition and a probing contribution to studies of the link
between collective memory and popular culture.

Shelemay views the intersection of music, individual remembrances, and
collective memory through the pizmonim.
Reconstructing a century of pizmon history in America based on
research in New York, Mexico, and Israel, she explains
how verbal and musical memories are embedded in individual songs and
how these songs perform both what has been
remembered and what otherwise would have been forgotten. In
confronting issues of identity and meaning in a
postmodern world, Shelemay moves ethnomusicology into the domain of
memory studies.

Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Author's Note
Acknowledgments
Jasmine: Poem on Sandpaper
Introduction
Prelude: Sur Yah El
1: Song and Remembrance
Prelude: Attah El Kabbir
2: Music and Migration in a Transnational Community
Prelude: Ani Ashir Lakh
3: A Judeo-Arab Musical Tradition
Prelude: Ramah Evarai
4: Lived Musical Genres
Prelude: Yehidah Hitna'ari
5: Individual Creativity, Collective Memory
Prelude: Melekh Rahaman
6: Conclusion: A Community in Song
Embroidered Rag: Poem on Umm Kulthum
Notes
Glossary
Contents of Compact Disc
Bibliography
Discography
Formal Interviews
Music Sessions
Index

Subjects:

     Music: Ethnomusicology
     Religion: Judaism
     Culture Studies

The University of Chicago Press

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Cohen <rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Thursday, July 29, 1999 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: Phish Thread- Al Kol Aileh


>Am glad I'm not the only one heretofore ignorant of this example of a
>borrowed melody--and interested in it.  Related to Bob's question (or
in the
>neighborhood of it), Syrian Jews draw on Arabic melodies for
so-called
>"pizmonim"--new (usu. Hebrew, I believe) words to (usu.) a borrowed
>melody--now, sometimes, melodies borrowed from American life. Kay
Shelemay
>(I shd have the sp right and hope I do) has documented this, in a
recording
>and, I believe recently, a book.
>
>
>>From: "robert wiener" <wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com>
>>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>>Subject: Re: Phish Thread- Al Kol Aileh
>>Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 10:31:21 -0400
>>
>>Eliezer,
>>
>>Can you tell us which song served as the basis of "Al Kol Aileh"?
>>I don't believe that I've ever heard Abdel Wahab's work.  Maybe on
>>Atlantic Avenue (Brooklyn).
>>
>>The blurb below comes from the All Music Guide.  It's interesting to
>>read that Abdel Wahab drew on Western music.  (If he were alive
today,
>>would he be listening to Phish?)   I guess that this is just another
>>example of the cross-fertilization of musical styles.  Are there
other
>>examples of Arabic (Egyptian) tunes that became Jewish (Israeli)
hits?
>>Or vice versa?
>>
>>As a singer and an influence on Egyptian music during its
renaissance,
>>Abdel Wahab was equaled only by Umm
>>  Kulthum. But while she was a traditionalist to the core, Abdel
Wahab
>>believed in learning from Western music.   Yet he too was a musical
>>nationalist, renewing rather than diluting Egyptian tradition.
>>Starting from a highly traditional sound as a teenager, he gradually
>>moved into a highly varied (and internationally popular) film-based
>>repertoire. But besides contributing to the pop world, he introduced
>>more fundamental elements, such as long instrumental passages, a
major
>>element in his work. -- John Storm Roberts, All-Music Guide
>>
>>Bob
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Eliezer Kaplan <zelwel (at) earthlink(dot)net>
>>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>>Date: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 9:24 AM
>>Subject: Phish Thread- Al Kol Aileh
>>
>>
>> >Can you still call 'Al Kol Aileh' Jewish music even if you know
the
>>melody
>> >was lifted from Mohammed Abdelwahab? (Guess so...)
>> > EK
>> >
>> >----------------------
>>jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+
>> >