Re: JEWISH-MUSIC digest 1454

[Judith R. Cohen <judithc...>]

Thanks for the note, Francesco! Augustin asks:
> 
> Another footnote, a totally unscholarly one: Judith, what's wrong 
> with the song? ..........
> 
Well, here's an unscholarly answer for the unscholarly question!
Actually, the unprepossessing and indefensible  truth is that -
personally only - I find the lyrics mushy and unremarkable and the tune
kind of boring. It just has a kind of top-ten light pops feel about it
which never appealed to me. Often melodies are like living beings to me,
I fall in love with them - and this song is sort of like someone one
doesn't mind having coffee and an inconsequential chat with if one runs
into them, but doesn't think about or miss otherwise.
 Let's see, I think I've even sung it twice. Once in 1983 or so, when
Flory Jagoda shared a concert with my old group Gerineldo in Montreal,
and they refused to have anything to do with the song (or any others of
its ilk) so I said ok, I'd sing it as a duet with her, out of affection
and respect for Flory rather than for the song. And once in 1992 at the
Istanbul Sephardic festival were all the musicians had to get up on
stage at the end of the concert and sing it, and the musicians of a
Spanish group who were there were annoyed with me afterwards for "caving
in" and joining in.(Gee, and other people see me as intransigent!)
There are several songs from the Judeo-Spanish 19th-20th century lyric
and love song repertoire I do like, but by and large I do prefer , for
my own tastes, the older songs,both for their words and for their
melodies (the fascinating and pithily told stories of the ballads, the
quirky combination of religion and eroticsm in some wedding
songs,Moroccan tunes' use of both old Spanish melodies and northern
Moroccan rhythms, the adaptations of Turkish and Greek melodies....). 
Of course, there are unremarkable songs among the older repertoire too;
nothing's sacred: for me, for singing purposes, there's simply  a type
of lyrics and a type of melody I like, and there are so many of those to
seek out and learn that it isn't appealing to spend time on the ones
which call out to me less. 
Besides - as in the case of "Adio, querida", there are plenty of people
to keep them alive - these songs don't need me, which is another
criterion I do use in selecting the ones I focus on as a performer. As
an ethnomusicologist, as I said, I consider them all a valid and
interesting and important part of the culture.
Actually, I wasn't that different as a kid. I didn't like most of
whatever was on the radio and didn't go to school dances 'cause I didn't
like the music! Then I went to years of summer camp, and happily 
learned all the old Eretz songs from some counsellors and all the civil
rights movement etc. songs from others; and later discovered medieval
music which I've loved and performed for many years. And when I started
traveling and first heard Moroccan, Balkan and Turkish music - in situ -
I was ecstatic! At least I'm consistent...
Cheers, Judith

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