East and West

[Sam Weiss <samweiss...>]

Yosl Kurland's Eyn Keyloheynu is a Western Sephardic 
(Spanish-Portuguese) "standard" version (not particular to a Festival) 
that is also sung in other Sephardic locales and, apparently, is 
spreading to plain-vanilla congregations.  Western Sephardic synagogue 
tunes typically do have a character falling somewhere between "Oy!" and 
"Ach!" (let's call it the "Mid-Western 'Oh' ") that makes them easier to 
"tolerate" (as Adrianne put it), yet they have a hint of exoticism -- in 
small doses.

An interesting sub-chapter in the story of German synagogue music reform 
was a small movement (I'm sorry but I don't recall more particulars) to 
incorporate this kind of "easy to swallow" Sephardic melodic content and 
chanting style as representing a more "refined" musical approach and one 
more "authentically Jewish" than the corrupted style of the Ost-Juden.
...................................................................

I'll also tie in under this subject the following excerpt from Alex 
Lubet's posting:

   >Even if the foreground melody was indeed composed by
   >a Jew, the melodic contours, intonation system, harmony,
   >meter, form ...        ... are all products of that Western
   >(and usually Germanic) tradition.

by noting that it can be said that culturally Ashkenazic Jews "are all 
products of that Western (and usually Germanic) tradition" with an 
Eastern underlay and overlay.  This is especially true of traditional 
Synagogue song, often referred to as "Minhag Ashkenaz," where "Ashkenaz" 
simply means Germany.  It is interesting to observe the ongoing process 
of fine-tuning the East-West balance in synagogue music in order to 
achieve the optimal internal comfort level for Minhag America. 
I guess we'll never feel just right until we're neither "this" nor "that."

______________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+