Authors: Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Shelemay
ISBN-13: 9780226752112, ISBN-10: 0226752119
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date Published: December 1998
Edition: 1
When Jews left Aleppo, Syria, in the early twentieth century and established communities abroad, they carried with them a repertory of songs (pizmonim) with sacred Hebrew texts set to melodies borrowed from the popular Middle Eastern Arab musical tradition. Let Jasmine Rain Down tells the story of the pizmonim as they have continued to be composed, performed, and transformed through the present day; it is thus an innovative ethnography of an important Judeo-Arabic musical tradition and a probing contribution to studies of the link between collective memory and popular culture.
Shelemay views the intersection of music, individual remembrances, and collective memory through the pizmonim. Reconstructing a century of pizmon history in America based on research in New York, Mexico, and Israel, she explains how verbal and musical memories are embedded in individual songs and how these songs perform both what has been remembered and what otherwise would have been forgotten. In confronting issues of identity and meaning in a postmodern world, Shelemay moves ethnomusicology into the domain of memory studies.
When Jews left Aleppo, Syria, in the early 20th century, they carried with them a repertory of songs (pizmonim) with sacred Hebrew texts set to melodies borrowed from the Middle Eastern Arab popular musical tradition. This book/CD-ROM package tells the story of the pizmonim as they have continued to be composed and performed. The companion CD-ROM contains musical selections. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
List of Illustrations | ||
Author's Note | ||
Acknowledgments | ||
Jasmine: Poem on Sandpaper | ||
Introduction | 1 | |
Prelude: Sur Yah El | 15 | |
1 | Song and Remembrance | 25 |
Prelude: Attah El Kabbir | 54 | |
2 | Music and Migration in a Transnational Community | 64 |
Prelude: Ani Ashir Lakh | 92 | |
3 | A Judeo-Arab Musical Tradition | 104 |
Prelude: Ramah Evarai | 135 | |
4 | Lived Musical Genres | 148 |
Prelude: Yehidah Hitna'ari | 172 | |
5 | Individual Creativity, Collective Memory | 182 |
Prelude: Melekh Rahaman | 207 | |
6 | Conclusion: A Community in Song | 212 |
Embroidered Rag: Poem on Umm Kulthum | 231 | |
Notes | 233 | |
Glossary | 255 | |
Contents of Compact Disc | 258 | |
Bibliography | 267 | |
Discography | 277 | |
Formal Interviews | 277 | |
Music Sessions | 278 | |
Index | 279 |