Re: Phish Thread- Al Kol Aileh

[Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

To All:
I heartily recommend this book! Judy
At 08:42 PM 7/29/99 -0400, you wrote:
>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 ---------------------+
>>> >