Bulgarian Spehardic Dance

[Bob Cohen <zaelic...>]

Judith Cohen mentioned an article by Nikolai Kaufmann on dance among the Sephardic Jews in Bulgaria. 

Here is the passage from Dr. Nikolai Kaufmann's article "Folk Songs of the Bulgarian Jews in the Past." It is in the 1985 Annual of the Social, Cultural and Educational Association of the Jews in the People's Republic of Bulgaria, published in classic communist era bad English, as one can see below (Not for change single word do I dare!) The section on dance (page 125) is of interest:

"Dance songs are those with which Español Jews in Bulgaria accompanied their dance. They have melodies typical of the Balkan peoples. These dances and songs are performed on various popular occasions - religious feasts, weddings, etc. Only among the Español Jews in Bulgaria there were seldom found instrumentalist musicians because of which for playing used to be hired Gypsy musicians, while the Jews themselves danced. Most often, however, the dancers were performed to the accompaniment of songs, a tambourine or clapping of hands so as to emphasize rhythm. 

Jews have two kinds of dances at which the couples - man and woman - dance opposite one another. At one of these dances the steps are monotonous and quiet. At every part or time of the bar has taken one step back or forth. The hands were also included in the dance, the participants gesticulating according to the bar of the songs synchronously with the steps. The other dance is a "belly dance. 

[Here Kaufmann lists 'dance song characteristics': 9/8 rhythms, 2/4 rhythms, with "not very often, the 8/8 (like the Bulgarian folk song 'The Shar Mountains' and the Jewish 'Alta alta va la luna) and 7/8 bars (like the rachenitsa) too are to be observed in some songs."] [The musical explanations given are quite confusing, but the english in this section is hilarious. Let's all meet at my favorite 7/8 bar!]

The dance songs of the Español Jews in Bulgaria as a rule differ from their ritual and particularly from their love songs. This is a separate branch of folk music, which almost completely overlaps in sonority with the urban dance music of the Balkan peoples. In this group of songs there are most often cases of rhythms of unequal parts, typical of most Balkan peoples. Probably, as popular feasts took most often place in the open air, under the influence of the other ethnic groups the Jews had composed dance songs close to those of the groups of the urban population mentioned above, or they had borrowed some of their melodies to which they added texts of their own in the Spanish dialect spoken by them. But another explanation is also possible, as the dances of the Jews were the same as those performed by the remaining urban population of that time.

The dances and dance melodies of the Jews evidence the equalized and to a large extent common musical and dance culture of the mixed populations in the bigger towns in the past. It is self evident that the basic Bulgarian population in its neighborhoods had performed its various dances and songs of the specific Bulgarian Folklore.

Irrespective of this, in the towns there existed dances and melodies common to all nationalities of the class of Jewish songs mentioned above. Similar to them are Bulgarian urban dance songs "Bells are Tolling, Mitra" "Mother has sent little Gani" "A lass came to water" etc. 

[The question of authenticity in Jewish dance has come up in the revival of Klezmer in Hungary as well. Di Naye Kapelye used to do dance workshops with Sue Foy, who did extensive Yiddish dance research in NYC before moving to Budapest. For the last five or six years, however, whenever there is a "klezmer dance" workshop or event, it has been done by local Israeli dance teachers and groups, practically replacing all of the more traditional dances Sue introduced in years past. Trying to explain the difference between traditional East European Yiddish dance and Israeli dance goes over the heads of the organizers of these events, one of whom answered me with "But it's Jewish, isn't it?"]

Sending a little Gani to all,
Bob Cohen 
www.dinayekapelye.com

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