Baden-Powell and Ma'oz Tsur

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

ok, here's what the most knowledgeable Tangier person I know has to say,
hopefully I can remember all this from a phone conversation in French,
-  I wasn't taking notes.
Solly (of Gerineldo; grew up in Tangier) thinks (as I did) that the
Ma'oz Tsur tune came relatively recently to Morocco, somewhere in the
first third of the 20th century, and - though he emphasizes this is only
his own theory ("and these are non-doctoral comments" he added)- he's
pretty sure it came with the Scouts.
The Scouting movement - Jewish Boy Scouts of course - came from France
to Morocco and had an enormous influence - exchange trips to and from
France, services held by the rabbis who came with the groups from
France, etc. At theis time, and up till the Algerian War, most French
Jews were Ashkenazi rather than Sephardi. The Scout movement was also
closely connected to the DEJJ: Department d'Education de la Jeunesse
Juive (Dept. of Education of Jewish Youth), and this institution had ,
for many years, a very active rabbi , Leon Askenazi , who was Sephardic
from Algeria (Eskenazi or Askenazi is a common Sephardic surname, as in
Rosa Eskenazi), who was also instrumental in spreading melodies.

Solly says a lot of French tunes - not only Jewish ones (also tunes sung
around the campfire at night etc) - made their way into the community
this way, and not just in the north of Morocco.

It's used in the north for singing Ma'oz Tsur at Hanuka and often the
tune is used for the Kaddish of the Friday night before Hanuka, in
Tangier (or was). In the south, they might actually use the tune at
other times - not only this tune, but other tunes used for holidays they
are not normally associated with - a practice which Solly says the
Tangier Jews were half annoyed and half amused by - if they heard a
south Moroccan cantor singing something with the Ma'oz Tsur tune for
Shavu'ot, for example, they'd come out of the service and wish each
other an ironic Happy Hanuka under the broiling Moroccan summer sun....

When a tune is integrated - also what I thought - it's integrated, it's
just there. It's not foreign or exotic. In the case of Ma'oz Tsur
specifically, it's totally integrated. A few people don't like this:
Solly cites the current rabbi (also from Tangier) of one of the Toronto
Sephardic synagogues, who really dislikes the use of Ma'oz Tsur for its
Protestant connotations (unlike Hassidim who "redeem" worthy melodies
from Christianity for Judaism) but this is fairly unusual, most people
don't have a problem with it and in fact use all kinds of melodies (I
cited Santa Lucia in my earlier message). 

There are several other Ashkenazi tunes which have entered the Sephardic
liturgy in Morocco at various times, he said, but it's not an
overwhelming number.Lately, Israeli tunes also enter quite often.

Now, I suppose that enriching/contaminating (however one sees it!) the
Moroccan Sephardic liturgy with Ashkenazi French melodies wasn't the
main goal of Lord Baden-Powell's scouting movement....

hope this answers your questions,Bob (and whoever else). (I think I've
forgotten something Solly said ; maybe it will come to me later. )
Judith


> Do you have any idea as to how the tune made its way to the north of
> Morocco?  When was it used in the Moroccan synagogue?  Do Moroccan >cantors
> use it as part of their Hanukah celebration?   Do you recall in what context
> you've heard it during fieldwork?
> 
> Do you have a sense of whether such a melody is integrated into their
>> musical practice or seen as exotic?  Would Moroccans consider it foreign or
> traditional?
> 
> Are there other examples of similar transmigrations of Ashkenazi >melodies to
> the north of Morocco?

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