RE: borrowing tunes

[music <music...>]

Judith Cohen wrote:

> Hi, that contrafactum is a longstanding and ongoing part of Jewish
> musical life can be taken for granted 

Indeed--Maybe as old as the Psalms.

>(read Jeff Summit's great article
> "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" on Simkhat Torah tunes in Boston for
> example; or a couple of my own old - and maybe not as much fun as
> Jeff's  articles on contrafactum in Judeo-Spanish song) ...

All excellent resources.  You can also read "We're Playing Their Song:
When Jewish Words Are Set to Non-Jewish Melodies, It's Strictly Kosher"
(title inserted w/out my approval by the magazine; first part is clever,
second part ignorant and at odds w/ the article itself) in the August 1994
MOMENT magazine.

Robert Cohen

cdbaby.com/openthegates

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