Re: Oriental Jewish Music

[Marvin Margoshes <physchem...>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bronia Kornhauser" <Bronia(dot)Kornhauser (at) 
Arts(dot)monash(dot)edu(dot)au>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 1:08 AM
Subject: Oriental Jewish Music


> 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?

All Jewish music that I know of borrow heavily from their non-Jewish
neighbors.  The music of those from the Arab countries is distinct from the
music of those from Southern Europe.

But please, lets not get started again on defining Jewish music.

> And would you use the term Sephardi interchangeably with Oriental for
> some (all?) of those groups?

I think of the Jews from Central Asia (the countries that end in -stan) as
Asian.  The group in Queens refer to themselves as Bukharin.  The Jews in
Western China seem to have disappeared.

And there are Jews from Africa.  I haven't heard music of the Ethiopian
Jews.  I once heard on a Web site music sung by a tribe in central Africa
who practice Judaism.  The music was unmistakably Ashkenazi.

> Many thanks in anticipation
> Bronia
>
>



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