Re: Baden-Powell and Ma'oz Tsur

[Bob Wiener <wiener...>]

Judith,

Thanks to you and to Solly for your wonderful contribution to our
discussion.

I hope that it was as much fun for you to hear this story as it is for us to
read it.

Just one last question for now:  Were the Jewish Boy Scout exchange trips
limited to girls?  And, if so, do you think that might have affected which
melodies were transmitted -- compared, for example, to the transmission of
Ladino melodies?  In other words, might the musical exchange through these
means be more likely of liturgical rather than secular tunes (when such a
distinction can be made)?

Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judith R Cohen" <judithc (at) YorkU(dot)CA>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 1:45 PM
Subject: Baden-Powell and Ma'oz Tsur


> 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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