borrowing tunes

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

> Indeed--Maybe as old as the Psalms.


Hi, yes, Robert, seemingly a practice at least as old as the psalms,
where one sees that certain ones are to be sung to the "lakhan of..." -
presumably some well-known tune of the time. For me, the best serious
discussions of borrowing tunes from non-religious or non-Jewish sources
are in Ellen Koskoff's work, in her splendid book "Music in Lubavitcher
Life" and several articles before that. While she doesn't discuss
Sephardic music, the concepts and presented so thoughtfully that they
can be applied far beyond the context she is focussing on. 

about the sea shanties, David writes:

> 
> The Yidgal is song Erev Shabat in (some?) Sephardi congregations. It
> sure > sounded English to me, very familiar, but I could not sing it for you
> now or > tell you anything more.

Well, that kind of takes care of that, I guess!... worth remembering
that quite a few Moroccan Jews lived in and/or had frineds, family and
associates who lived in, Gibraltar, and that a fair amount of Moroccan
ballad tunes (even when the texts had been ther emuch longer) were
acquired in the late 19th century and earlier 20th, during the time of
the Spanish Protectorate.

> The "l'chai olamim" is simple song in this manner:
> Hahod vhahadar tzu vemem, tzu vemem? L-chai .... o-lam-MIM! Pull on the
> ropes 
> on aht "MIM!". It is not your typcial Hebrew/Yiddish liturgical or
> klezmer 
> hit.

I'm not really sure why the "olaMIM" implies pulling on the ropes, or,
in fact,
 what a "typical Hebrew/Yiddish liturgical or klezmer hit" is.

best, Judith

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