Re: Kol Nidre

[Lenka Lichtenberg <lenkal...>]

a very huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to all that responded on and off list, i
am now much ahead:  informed, a little scared (but not enough to scare me
away) and certainly humbled by the enormity of this undertaking!  i will
follow your ideas and listen to Jan Peerce and others, with charts in hand
AND with, hopefully,  an understanding of the words. i am not sure about the
accompaniment, i've used instruments in our shul before but maybe this is
different; a consultation is needed with our lovely Rabbi (female).
        i feel so lucky to have been guided to this list (sounds corny for
sure).      lenka


----- Original Message -----
From: Sam Weiss <SamWeiss (at) bellatlantic(dot)net>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: Kol Nidre


> Joe Kurland <ganeydn (at) crocker(dot)com> wrote:
>
>      >...be able to know what you are singing throughout.
>      >When you practice, concentrate on the meaning of
>      >every word and every phrase and the historical
>      >context in which this prayer was written so that you
>      >can interpret it emotionally in your singing.
>      >Remember that you are representing the congregation
>      >as you sing. All their hopes and sorrows must be
>      >expressed by your voice...
>
> Nice idealism, Joe, but are you trying help Lenka or scare her away?
> Without intending any sarcasm, I would not advise Lenka in ths context
> to overly dwell on the hopes and sorrows of the congregation -- which
> may be trivially mundane -- but to "learn the score," as it were, as
> best as she can, and the concomitant emotions will speak for themselves.
>
> As it happens, to "...concentrate on the meaning of every word and every
> phrase.." of Kol Nidre may not produce the desired results as it might
> in other prayers.  In fact, Kol Nidre is not technically a prayer at
> all, but a legal formula for absolution of vows which has made rabbis --
> from Rishonim to Reform -- squirm for many centuries.  (It provides
> fodder for countless hate websites to this day.) The historical context
> in which this declaration was written is 9th century Babylonia (=Iraq)
> where Aramaic was still the Jewish vernacular, and not 15th century
> Spain, as common lore has it.  Its high drama in today's Ashkenazic
> congregations derives principally from the stirring 17th century melody
> which has become firmly attached to the words of Kol Nidre.  (Among the
> Sephardim it is chanted quite plainly.)
>
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ
>
>
>
>
>

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