Re: new cd notes, arabic links

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

Concerning the Sher:

There are 4 basic contemporary theories involving the origin of the Sher
tants or Sherele as it has affectionately been called. They are not
necessarily mutually exclusive:

1) It evolved out of the many "trade" dances which were featured at
Jewish weddings. It was common for each trade to have its own dance, so
there were waiters' dances (Saverns Tants), tailors' dances (Shneyder
Tants) Shoemakers' dances (Shister Tants) etc etc. There may have been
an older Sherers (?) tants which was the dance of barbers.

2) The sher [scissors] dance contains figures which denote the act of
cutting and sewing (?threading the needle? and crossing patterns). The
general choreography of the sher seems most closely related to the
quadrille, a couples? dance which became popular in France in the early
19th Century and remained fashionable throughout the Napoleonic era
until it was replaced by the Bohemian Polka. The French quadrille was
especially popular along the borders of Estonia. From the word quadrille
came the term krokodil [crocodile] used in klezmer-loshn. (This text is
quoted from our new CD, Wedding Without a Bride) 

3) It is also possible, however, that the dance itself is related to the
16th Century South German schartanz (crowd dance), possibly having
reached the Jews via the Bavarian Germans who settled in Bessarabia
following the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest.The only existing notation of a
schartanz melody from 1562 shows no Jewish musical elements. By virtue
of the fact that it is a couples? dance, however, the schartanz may have
caught the interest of the more lenient Jewish communities of the late
19th Century who were beginning to discover couples´dances (because
mixed dancing was forbidden, pious Jews often refused to dance the
couples? sher).   The schartanz involved a number of dance couples who
would pay the musicians a combined sum for specific dance music. The
musicians would receive more in this way than they would for the dances
paid for by individuals. Coincidentally, Jewish shers tended to be
longer and more complex than other Jewish dances, thereby  also bringing
more tantsgeld (dance money). Perhaps not only the dance itself, but
also the practice of fashioning the music to optimize earnings relates
the sher peripherally to the schartanz. (Quoted from Budowitz, Mother
Tongue CD Text, amalgamted from Beregovski, Michael Alpert and various
other obscure sources):  

4) The sher tants has also been connected to the ceremony of cutting the
bride?s hair before the wedding in Germany. Rappaporta, S., Aus dem
religiösen Leben der Ostjuden, Der Jude, III, 1918-1919, pp. 225-226. I
don't find this definition to be typical, by virtue of the fact that in
the areas where the Sher became popular, the cutting of the bride's hair
took place at the kale badekns, and was accompanied by the recitative of
the badkhn, and not by a ballroom dance. What is interesting about the
above source, however, is the fact that it comes from Germany, where the
above Schartanz was danced.

In fact, its a coincidence that Shers are usually dances which involve
motives coming from different dances "cut" together in order to create
their typical extended lengths. The figures do in fact take a long time
to complete on the dance floor. 

About JEWISH/TURKISH/ARABIC/GREEK music:

The fact is, those tunes only appear in the early US recordings of
Brandwein & Co. The entire body of so-called "terkisher, grikhisher or
arabertants" dance tunes seems to stem from one basic source -  the
Urban Sirto dance which was common all through the Ottoman ruled areas
around the turn of the Century. Many were played in the Nihavent makam
(like Mogen Ovos, or minor), often moving to the IV minor modal area and
sometimes containing a contrasting section in the I major area. But the
melodies for these tunes in Europe were often taken on for Hongas and
freylekhs. 

The typical American klezmer rhythm (dotted eighth - sixteenth -eighth -
eighth) which was used for the accompaniment to the melodies is the
lets-sound-middle-eastern-without-overtaxing-our-oompah-trained-rhythm-section-lowest-common-denominator-play-while-chewing-tobacco
reduction. No great theories need to be constructed around the
appearance of these melodies or rhythms. They belong to the exotica
genre played by American klezmorim for "special effect." But the earlier
Sirto melodies were commonly circulated in eastern Europe. I don't know
if that tourist rhythm mentioned above was even played by klezmorim in
Europe. I don't know of any evidence of it, nor do any of the Jewish or
ballrom dances use it as their base rhythm.  

I have goosepimples on my arms already just thinking about the
possibility of winning a free CD, Ernie. Didn't you promise me one
anyway though?  Josh

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