smoothing out - Lucy et al

[Judith Cohen <judithrc...>]

Hi, taking the liberty of answering the question you aimed at Joel (who will 
probably answer too), he's quite right: Hemsi and Levy did what they 
undoubtedly thought of as "smoothing out" the songs they each, separately 
and with a gap of a few decades, collected and published. Hemsi did actual 
arrnagements for piano, and Levy only did transcriptions (as did Aracadio de 
Larrea Palacin in similar `smoothing out style`for Morocco) . Both pretty 
much erased Middle East maqam, and complex rhythms, and generally presented 
the melodies so that they fit into standards of Western concert music more 
easily.
They should be seen in their own cultural context - Western concert music. 
They were not ethnomsuciologists, and did not make their recordings 
available to anyone to listen to. They performed , in my mind, a great 
service in making the repertoire available and a great disservice in 
altering it for what turned out to be a whole initial and influential 
generation (or more) of performers and listeners.
As for whether I would àpprove`of your arrnagements, well, of course, my 
approval of anyone`s arrangements of anything should be irrelevant!
But I wouldn`t suggest taking the Victoria de los ANgeles approach to 
Judeo-Spanish songs (much as I admire her artistry, her initiative at the 
time in performing and recording them,  and, having met her when we were 
both working at a summer university seminar one year in Spain, like and 
respect her as a person) - especially in the light of the resources we now 
have available.
Over the past few days at Ashkenaz, I`ve been involved in several 
discussions about change, innnovation, continuity etc. No conclusions! My 
point of view as a trained ethnomusicologist tends to be much more wide open 
and tolerant of change than my point of view as an individual person - a 
positive result of the academic approach! While I`m here, thanks, Simon, for 
your last comment; it didn`t go unappreciated. Happy New Year - Judith




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