Re: Sephardic instrumental music

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Hi, all. Sorry for the time away on the topic, but I thought to wait until 
I had something substantive to add. I re-read pats of Pamela J Dorn's, 
"Change and Ideology: The ethnomusicology of Turkish Jewry", May 1991, 
Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University.

For those that want the summary: She confirms that there is no documented 
purely instrumental Sephardic tradition. However, I overstated the lack of 
a Sephardic tradition of instrumental accompaniment - she suggests this 
primarily vocal tradition could indeed have been accompanied in 
non-synagogue (paraliturgic or other) settings. I apologize to the list for 
getting this wrong.

Anyway, I've enjoyed this thread and hope that others have as well.

Best,

Joel

pp. 140-141:

"We can only speculate about the actual musical features of Sephardic 
Jewish music in Spain in the fifteenth century. Published and 
musically-notated song collections are recent developments in the Sephardic 
world. They made their apppearance in the twentieth century. We do know, 
however, that a large number of Jews setled in Andalusia, the southern 
portion of Spain, where musical influcences were predominantly Arab. Arabic 
instruments such as the Oud (transliterated spelling from the Arabic; a 
lute) the nai (end-blown, reed flute; similar to the Turkish ney), qanun 
(similar to the Turkish Kanun), def (tambourine) were used in this region 
of Spain prior to the fifteenth century. European musicologists such as 
Farmer (1930,1929) and Ribera (1927) speculate that a strong connection 
exists between these instrument and their European Renaissance counterparts 
such as the lute, recorder, virginal and tambourine.

The Sephardic Jewish musical tradition in Spain was primarily a song 
tradition, as it has remained in successive centuries until our own times. 
If there had been a purely instrumental Sephardic music in Spain, no 
documentation has surfaced to tell us about it. Only songs have remained in 
the oral tradition. Sometimes these songs are accompanied by instruments 
and other times, they are performed without accompaniment.

p. 159

"...there is no ban on the use of instruments in paraliturgical events such 
as weddings. "

"Instrumental accompaniment could be utilized outside of the religious 
contaxt: at home, in a concert hall, for picnics or in the recording 
studio. Ud and kanun were perhaps the most popular instruments used for 
teaching and rehearsal purposes by Sephardic rabbis." (JB note: but of 
course, they could not be used as accompaniment in a synagogue setting on 
the Sabbath or holidays.)


Joel Bresler
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