Yasmin Levy and old songs

[Judith Cohen <judithc...>]

Hi, Joel's message is right o. For some reason, people INSIST on sticking
centuries-labels on Judeo-Spanish songs.
First of all, a song has music and it has words.
In Judeo-Spanish songs, in many cases, the WORDS may indeed be very old.
This is true in many traditions, not only Judeo-Spanish. But the MUSIC has
developed over the diaspora in different places and in different ways.
As well, many, probably most of the commercially recoreded , songs one
listens to are from the LATER stratum of Judeo-Spanish song, i.e. the
18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Often as not, late 19th century. Why
people insist on going on about 1000 year old trafditions (there was not
really a reliable decipherable NOTATION 1000 years ago, "Spanish" wasn't
spoken, much less Judeo-Spanish, and the troubadours were just beginning
the lyric song tradition which in any case has zilch to do with
Judeo-Spanish song....)
Here in Valencia I did a concert last night and the porganizers of yet
another Three Cultures festival gave me a copy of the progrAMME. wITH
sEPHARDIC SONGS, MOSTLY FROM THE POPULAR 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY
REPERTOIRE, ALL CHEERFULLY LABELLED "15TH CENTURY".Sorry for the caps, not
my computer, it's the University of Valencia's invited scholar residence
computer, and lots of people are waiitng for it, have to run, Judith

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