RE: Oriental Jewish Music

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

At 09:49 AM 10/16/2003, you wrote:
>You definitely cannot use the word "Sephardi" to categorize all
>non-Ashkenazim.  From a cultural perspective, this term refers to the
>Spanish-Portugese experience.

That nails it.

One of the chapters in David Biale (ed.)'s new "Cultures of the Jews" 
specifically addresses this issue by noting that the Jewish communities in 
what are now Moslem countries, predating Sephardic culture, are mixes of 
the influences from the Iberian Peninsula exiles, plus their own original 
cultures. (In the case of Iran, we're talking about the site of the first 
exile and where one edition of the Talmud was redacted.) In the liner notes 
to the "Divahn" CD, a similar point is made, but perhaps more clearly.

The Israeli term "edot ha-mizrakh" is probably much more appropriate, and 
includes Sephardi culture (although, as Prof. Edelman notes, this is a 
mixed bag). The reverse is not true. I know that "Oriental" has come to be 
an accepted translation for that term, but it is an awkward term due to its 
many meanings having nothing to do with Jewish culture or communities.

ari


>I have come across some problems in my work as archivist for our Jewish
>Music Archive and am seeking help from this wonderful list.
>I am trying to categorise our material into Ashkenazi, Sephardi and
>Oriental Jewish music and would like your opinions on the following:
>When one is referring to the music of Oriental Jews, which
>geographical/cultural/stylistic groups does this cover?
>And would you use the term Sephardi interchangeably with Oriental for
>some (all?) of those groups?
>Many thanks in anticipation
>Bronia
>
>
>
>


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
list owner, jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
the klezmer shack: http://www.klezmershack.com/

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