Portuguese

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

Hi, even the "Portuguese" tunes aren't probably all that Portuguese. I
do have Herve Roten's book and his doctoral dissertation, both
fascinating; and the music of the POrtuguese Jewish synagogues in
southern France may have some roots in POrtuguese music but they're
pretty distant by the time these tunes were recorded or even
transcribed. Thje Crypto-Jews today in Portugal have only a couple of
tunes - probably from about the early 20th or late 19th century - which
are their "own", and even these are pretty common tune types there;
anything else they sing is the same repertoire anyone in their areas
knows, and also whatever they've learned from visitors over the 20th
century (including me) , and what little is left is disappearing fast
with the advent of a new Orthodox Israeli-Chilean rabbi. Judith

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