RE: What is a folk song?

[Sam Weiss <SamWeiss...>]

At 10:56 PM 1/13/04, music (at) sterlingmp(dot)org wrote:
>What greater compliment to Israel Goldfarb than that his "Shalom Aleichem" 
>is
>almost universally regarded (by amcha, anyway) as "traditional" and sung 
>all over the world ...
>... Goldfarb learned that his melody was being sung in India, regarded as 
>"traditional" and as having been passed on through generations.

A similar fate has befallen "Eyshet Chayil," composed in 1952 by 
American-born Ben-Zion Shenker, who is still healthy today.  Rounder's 
recent World Jewish Music compilation CD "The Hidden Gate" represents 
Indian Jewish Music in the form of Daniel Romiel's rendition of this 
song.  In the liner notes Mr. Romiel writes
"Most of these melodies are songs that I practiced at home for years. The 
reason I made this recording is because people have stopped practicing 
these songs in India, and very few people know them today. In Israel, there 
is more of an assimilation taking place, as people are becoming more and 
more Israeli and less Indian, they are forgetting their roots."


_____________________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ


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