Return to La Rosa

[Judith Cohen <judithrc...>]

Hi, sorry, I was in Spain and Portugal (in fact, recording traditional 
romances and other songs along Crypto-Jewish regions of the Portugal-Spain 
border area) when the "La Rosa" discussion came up and have only just 
managed to get around to reading it (my access to e-mail was very sporadic 
and always brief. Anyway, Robert and Joel have said , as usual, sensible and 
informative things; I'd like to mention my own article on contrafacts (using 
a known tune for a different set of words), : "Musical Bridges: the 
Contrafact Tradition in Judeo-Spanish Song" in "Cultural Marginality in the 
Western Mediterranean", ed. F. Gerson, New Aurora Ed.,1990:121-129. Some of 
the cuts on my CDs "Primavera en Salonica" (Saga, Madrid) and "Dans mon 
chemin..." (Radio Canada) also demonstrate the melody borrowing process. 
Finally, re the romance: what Lori so precisely describes is the classic and 
the most common form, but there are also 6-syllable forms and, as well, 
"populist" forms such as the romance de ciego (so called because they were, 
till quite recently, circulated by itinerant blind singers; often about 
current sensational events or topics).
Cheers, Judith (Cohen)


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