Re: Samuel Benaroya, hazzan

[Klezcorner <Klezcorner...>]

Hi Sandra,
Thank you for your posting of the passing of Samuel Bearoya. Not having read 
the posting till this afternoon, I was surprised at how many orders I received 
for his CD this morning. It is unfortunate that he is being rediscovered by 
his passing. His CD is an important document.
Simon
Hatikvah Music
323) 655-7083
In a message dated 11/30/3 8:22:50 PM, sandralayman (at) earthlink(dot)net 
writes:

<< Samuel Benaroya, beloved Hazzan Emeritus of Sephardic Bikur Holim

Congregation in Seattle, passed away this past week in Seattle, Washington,

at the age of 95. Originally from Edirne, Turkey, he served as Hazzan for a

Turkish congregation in Geneva starting in 1934, and in 1952 moved to

Seattle to become Hazzan at SBH.


He was laid to rest this afternoon in the Seattle Sephardic Brotherhood

cemetery, after an outpouring of tributes at his synagogue today.


His biography, along with photographs and info about his compositions and

other activities, may be found at:

http://www.sbhseattle.org/Bio-Rev_Benaroya.stm


The following are excerpts from that page:


< Reverend Samuel Benaroya is a descendant of one of the most renowned

families of musicians from Edirne, Turkey, where he was born in 1908, the

youngest of five brothers and two sisters. He began his career as a singer

at the age of six in the choir of the "Kahal Grande" synagogue. At the age

of 17 he already conducted this choir and at the age of 20 he joined the

Maftirim where he studied with his uncles Haribi Avraham Bahar, Avraham

Bekhor Menahem, and also with Rabbi Hayim Bejerano (Chief Rabbi of

Istanbul), Yehuda Hasid, Ben Tzyion Yeroham and the poet Hayim Benaroya. His

father, Haham Yitzhak Benaroya, was a Hazan in Edirne for 60 years. >


< Maftirim - Rev. Samuel Benaroya is one of the last surviving singers of

the Maftirim choir of the city of Edirne. From the 17th century on, one of

the most important centers of musical and poetic creativity among Jews in

the Ottoman Empire developed in this city. The center for these activities

was in the synagogues of the city, "Portugal" and later on "Kahal Grande".

On the early mornings of the Shabbat the Maftirim, a confraternity of

composers, poets and singers assembled in the synagogue to perform Hebrew

sacred poems set to Ottom classic music. >


< In 1998, Professor Edwin Seroussi, of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

and The Jewish Music Research Center, released a CD entitled Ottoman Hebrew

Sacred Songs - Performed by Samuel Benaroya, representing a part of a

comprehensive research project on Ottoman Hebrew sacred poetry and music.

The recording became a last minute effort to save the vanished lore of Rev.

Benaroya's fellow Ottom Jewish musicians, most of whom remained unrecorded.

The scarcity of Hebrew Ottoman recordings enhances the value of this

documentation. >


< It might be interesting to note that the title "Reverend" was added to

Hazzan Benaroya's name prior to his arrival into the United States. The late

(WA) Senators "Scoop" Jackson and Warren Magnuson were credited with the

idea that would permit special entrance (without quota) into the U.S. for

permanent residence by the Benaroya family. The stipulation being that Rev.

Benaroya was to use the title in every document. >


 >>

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