British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Sara Manasseh
Reviewed work(s):
Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance among Syrian Jews by Kay Kaufman
Shelemay
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2000), pp. 146-148
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060650
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BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.9111 2000 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.9111 2000
a welcome addition to our
understanding
of
why
and how the field
shapes
itself the
way
it does.
ANDY NERCESSIAN
Faculty
of Music,
University of Cambridge
a welcome addition to our
understanding
of
why
and how the field
shapes
itself the
way
it does.
ANDY NERCESSIAN
Faculty
of Music,
University of Cambridge
KAY KAUFMAN SHELEMAY, Let
jasmine
rain down:
song
and remembrance
among Syrian
Jews.
Chicago
and
London:
University
of
Chicago,
1998. xvii + 291
pp., photographs,
figures, table, musical exx., song
texts, index, glossary, references,
CD. ISBN 0-226-75211-9
(cloth
?41);
0-226-75212-7
(pb., ?17.50).
In this
study
of
pizmonim (paraliturgical
hymns;
s.
pizmon)
in the
Syrian
Jewish
diaspora
of New York, Israel and Mexico
City, Kay
Kaufman
Shelemay
focuses on
the evocation of "several domains of
memory" (7) through song performance.
The introduction cites studies of musical
traditions that
embody
music and
remembrance and observes that, unlike
recent studies in the humanistic
disciplines,
"the musical construction of
remembrance"
(6)
has remained in the
background
in most
ethnomusicological
literature.
Shelemay
makes effective use
of verbatim
reports
from
interviews,
noting
that the
transcription
and
analysis
of interviews
highlighted memory
as an
ever-present
theme.
Acknowledging
the
work of
Soja
(1995)
and Foucault
(1986),
she views "each
pizmon
... as a
heterotopology,
a site for various
constructions of
present
and
past
..."
(10).
Shelemay
describes
Syrian
Jewish
religious song
as "a
hybrid, emerging
from the bifurcated historical
experience
of this Judeo-Arab
community" (11):
the
song texts,
in
Hebrew,
are
Jewish,
while
the melodies derive from Arab
song.
She
notes that
pizmon performance
is often
preceded by
an
improvisatory petihah
KAY KAUFMAN SHELEMAY, Let
jasmine
rain down:
song
and remembrance
among Syrian
Jews.
Chicago
and
London:
University
of
Chicago,
1998. xvii + 291
pp., photographs,
figures, table, musical exx., song
texts, index, glossary, references,
CD. ISBN 0-226-75211-9
(cloth
?41);
0-226-75212-7
(pb., ?17.50).
In this
study
of
pizmonim (paraliturgical
hymns;
s.
pizmon)
in the
Syrian
Jewish
diaspora
of New York, Israel and Mexico
City, Kay
Kaufman
Shelemay
focuses on
the evocation of "several domains of
memory" (7) through song performance.
The introduction cites studies of musical
traditions that
embody
music and
remembrance and observes that, unlike
recent studies in the humanistic
disciplines,
"the musical construction of
remembrance"
(6)
has remained in the
background
in most
ethnomusicological
literature.
Shelemay
makes effective use
of verbatim
reports
from
interviews,
noting
that the
transcription
and
analysis
of interviews
highlighted memory
as an
ever-present
theme.
Acknowledging
the
work of
Soja
(1995)
and Foucault
(1986),
she views "each
pizmon
... as a
heterotopology,
a site for various
constructions of
present
and
past
..."
(10).
Shelemay
describes
Syrian
Jewish
religious song
as "a
hybrid, emerging
from the bifurcated historical
experience
of this Judeo-Arab
community" (11):
the
song texts,
in
Hebrew,
are
Jewish,
while
the melodies derive from Arab
song.
She
notes that
pizmon performance
is often
preceded by
an
improvisatory petihah
(vocal "overture")
to establish the mood
and
key, just
as a
composition
in Arab
music
may
be
preceded by
a
taqsim
or
laydli
(instrumental or vocal
improvisation, respectively) (12-13).
Similarly,
the book is structured
according
to this aesthetic
principle,
each
of the six
chapters being preceded by
a
"Prelude" which introduces the reader to
a
specific pizmon
related to the issues
addressed in the
following chapter.
Each
Prelude discusses the circumstances of
composition
and
performance
of the
particular pizmon,
and
presents
a music
transcription
with word
underlay
in
transliteration, the
original song
text in
Hebrew and an
English translation; the
performance
of each
pizmon, by (male)
members of the
Syrian
Jewish
community
in New York, is
presented
on
the CD that
accompanies
the book.
Shelemay's presentation
results in an
attractive formula; the
sharp
focus on a
single song
and its
performance brings
the material to life, introduces the
reader/listener to a core
repertory
and
provides
a
practical
introduction to
theoretical issues.
Two
poems by Ronny
Someck
(1989:18, 19)
to the divas of Arabic
song
-
Fairuz and Umm Kulthuim
-
act as
prologue
and
epilogue,
the main title of
the book
emerging
in the first
poem.
Each
chapter
focuses on a different
domain of
memory. Chapter 1, "Song
and
remembrance" considers music
transmission and confirms tradition and
history
as
community
values in the
"multi-functional" performance of
pizmonim.
While
pizmon composition,
performance
and transmission
appear
to
be almost
exclusively male-oriented,
Shelemay
underlines the vital female role
taken in domestic events. In
Chapter 2,
"Music and
migration
in a transnational
community", Shelemay
addresses
Syrian
history
from the late nineteenth
century,
discussing
the
strong
sense of
community
(vocal "overture")
to establish the mood
and
key, just
as a
composition
in Arab
music
may
be
preceded by
a
taqsim
or
laydli
(instrumental or vocal
improvisation, respectively) (12-13).
Similarly,
the book is structured
according
to this aesthetic
principle,
each
of the six
chapters being preceded by
a
"Prelude" which introduces the reader to
a
specific pizmon
related to the issues
addressed in the
following chapter.
Each
Prelude discusses the circumstances of
composition
and
performance
of the
particular pizmon,
and
presents
a music
transcription
with word
underlay
in
transliteration, the
original song
text in
Hebrew and an
English translation; the
performance
of each
pizmon, by (male)
members of the
Syrian
Jewish
community
in New York, is
presented
on
the CD that
accompanies
the book.
Shelemay's presentation
results in an
attractive formula; the
sharp
focus on a
single song
and its
performance brings
the material to life, introduces the
reader/listener to a core
repertory
and
provides
a
practical
introduction to
theoretical issues.
Two
poems by Ronny
Someck
(1989:18, 19)
to the divas of Arabic
song
-
Fairuz and Umm Kulthuim
-
act as
prologue
and
epilogue,
the main title of
the book
emerging
in the first
poem.
Each
chapter
focuses on a different
domain of
memory. Chapter 1, "Song
and
remembrance" considers music
transmission and confirms tradition and
history
as
community
values in the
"multi-functional" performance of
pizmonim.
While
pizmon composition,
performance
and transmission
appear
to
be almost
exclusively male-oriented,
Shelemay
underlines the vital female role
taken in domestic events. In
Chapter 2,
"Music and
migration
in a transnational
community", Shelemay
addresses
Syrian
history
from the late nineteenth
century,
discussing
the
strong
sense of
community
146 146
BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.9/ii 2000
among Syrian Jews, particularly
in the
New World. The
"multiplex identity"
(74)
of this Judeo-Arab
community
(Sephardic-Levantine-Arabic) prompts
Shelemay, following
Clifford
(1994),
to
present
a "decentered view of a modem
diaspora" (68). Chapter
3
provides
diachronic evidence of the
strong
identification of
Syrian
Jews with Arab
music, confirming
the
centrality
of the
maqdm system
in
worship
and
discussing
a number of fundamental and familiar
issues
regarding
the latter, such as
referring
to vocal recitation of the
Qur'an
as
"reading" (rather
than
"singing"). (In
Jewish
practice, chanting
from the Bible
is also described as
"reading".)
In
Chapter 4,
"Lived musical
genres",
Shelemay
discusses social and musical
attributes of the
pizmon, stressing
the
importance
of
defining
a
genre by
its
context and
describing pizmonim
as
"compound
aural memories ...
connecting
moments in the
present
to
broader themes and historical
memory"
(171). Chapter 5,
"Individual
creativity,
collective
memory",
reviews the role of
the individual in
commissioning,
composing
and
performing pizmonim
and
notes the
importance
of
improvisation
in
performance.
The sixth and final
chapter
summarizes the role of the
pizmon
as an
agent
for individual and collective
memory
and
explores
broader
implications regarding processes
of
memory. Shelemay points
to a "close and
symbiotic relationship" (214)
between
"popular"
and "traditional" musics and
notes that the
pizmonim
are
"particularly
powerful
venues" in
arousing
an "affect
of
nostalgia" (215; Feder, 1981).
Shelemay
views the
pizmon
as a source
for social
history:
"an
anthology
of the
Syrian
Jewish sound world since at least
the late nineteenth
century" (220),
enabling
"an individual in the
present
to
re-sing, re-hear, and
re-experience
the
past" (223).
This book with its
accompanying
CD
is a valuable contribution to
ethnomusicological literature, both in its
theoretical framework
addressing
the
subject
of
memory,
and as a
specific
study
of an
aspect
of
religious
music in
the
Syrian
Jewish
community.
It secures
a
place
for
Syrian
Jewish music traditions
on the "Jewish music"
map,
and
helps
to
redress the east-west imbalance in this
corpus.
It also creates resonances with
other areas of research. For instance, the
collaboration of
Iraqi
and
Syrian experts
in New York outlined in
Chapter
1 forms
an
interesting parallel
to
contemporary
practice
in
Israel, where
Iraqi
instrumentalists and hazzanim
(cantors)
are featured in communal and
professional performances
of
Syrian
baqqashoth
(Habusha, 1989). Nostalgia
(Chapter 6)
was seen to be a
strong
factor
for the maintenance of
religious
and
secular musical traditions in
my
own
research with
Iraqi-Israelis (Manasseh
1999:194-6) and, by extension, the
sustenance of music tradition is of
therapeutic
value to transnational
communities
(Baily, 1999).
Within the main
subject
of
enquiry
-
that of
song
and the evocation of
compound
memories
-
the book
addresses issues such as
diaspora, identity
and
gender,
and the
theory
and
practice
of
Arab
music, particularly
as
experienced
in
the
performance
of the
Syrian
Jewish
pizmon.
While
pizmonim
are
performed
by
all Jewish
communities,
who share a
number of
song texts, the
Syrian practice
of
memorializing
numerous individuals
for
specific
events within
pizmonim
is of
special interest,
as is the convention of
borrowing
melodies of
Egyptian
"classic"
song
-
today,
the latter custom is
increasingly practised by
other Eastern
Jewish communities in Israel
(for
instance, some
Iraqi communities),
perhaps
influenced
by
the
Syrian
example.
In
today's political climate, with
147
148 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.9/1i 2000 148 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.9/1i 2000
efforts for
peace
between Israel and her
Arab
neighbours,
this book
expresses
the
shared
heritage
of all those from Arab
lands, regardless
of
religion:
the
strong
identification
by
the
Syrian
Jewish
community
with the "classical"
Egyptian
repertoire
of such artists as the
singers
Umm Kulthufm and
Asmahan, and the
composer-performer
'Abd al-Wahhab,
echoes the esteem in which these artists
continue to be held in the transnational
Arab world
-
my
own work
among Iraqi
Jews in Israel confirms their continued,
strong
attachment to this
"golden
age"
of
Egyptian
music.
My only
criticism of the book is that
the
great
attention to detail is marred
by
some inconsistencies in the transliteration
of the Hebrew
song
texts. The main
weakness occurs
regarding
the letter
'ayin, clearly pronounced by
the
singers:
in the text it is sometimes indicated
correctly,
as in
"ra'yonai" (18, ex.1,
bar
3),
but omitted in numerous words in the
same
example (18-20);
other letters are
very occasionally
inconsistent
-
"h" and
"s" shown as "kh" and
"z", respectively
(19,
bars 41 and
45);
there are also
instances of incorrect vowel
transliteration
("rov"
and
"yassed"
shown
as "rav" and
"yossed",
bars
40, 59-60,
respectively), although
these
may
be
typographical
errors. The
pizmon
transliterations would benefit from
correction.
Furthermore,
as a
general
background,
a brief historical review of
Jewish
religious song
-
the
piyyut
and
associated
genres,
such as
baqqashoth
("supplications"), pizmonim
and zemiroth
-
would have been
helpful.
This
perceptive
and
attractively
presented book, together
with the
energetic performances
on
CD,
is
greatly
welcomed, and invites a wide audience.
References
Baily,
John
(1999)
"Music and
refugee
lives:
Afghans
in eastern Iran and
efforts for
peace
between Israel and her
Arab
neighbours,
this book
expresses
the
shared
heritage
of all those from Arab
lands, regardless
of
religion:
the
strong
identification
by
the
Syrian
Jewish
community
with the "classical"
Egyptian
repertoire
of such artists as the
singers
Umm Kulthufm and
Asmahan, and the
composer-performer
'Abd al-Wahhab,
echoes the esteem in which these artists
continue to be held in the transnational
Arab world
-
my
own work
among Iraqi
Jews in Israel confirms their continued,
strong
attachment to this
"golden
age"
of
Egyptian
music.
My only
criticism of the book is that
the
great
attention to detail is marred
by
some inconsistencies in the transliteration
of the Hebrew
song
texts. The main
weakness occurs
regarding
the letter
'ayin, clearly pronounced by
the
singers:
in the text it is sometimes indicated
correctly,
as in
"ra'yonai" (18, ex.1,
bar
3),
but omitted in numerous words in the
same
example (18-20);
other letters are
very occasionally
inconsistent
-
"h" and
"s" shown as "kh" and
"z", respectively
(19,
bars 41 and
45);
there are also
instances of incorrect vowel
transliteration
("rov"
and
"yassed"
shown
as "rav" and
"yossed",
bars
40, 59-60,
respectively), although
these
may
be
typographical
errors. The
pizmon
transliterations would benefit from
correction.
Furthermore,
as a
general
background,
a brief historical review of
Jewish
religious song
-
the
piyyut
and
associated
genres,
such as
baqqashoth
("supplications"), pizmonim
and zemiroth
-
would have been
helpful.
This
perceptive
and
attractively
presented book, together
with the
energetic performances
on
CD,
is
greatly
welcomed, and invites a wide audience.
References
Baily,
John
(1999)
"Music and
refugee
lives:
Afghans
in eastern Iran and
California." Forced
migration
review
6
(December):
10-13
("Music
of
Iraqi
Jews in
Israel", p.13).
Clifford, James
(1994) "Diasporas."
Cultural
anthropology
9:302-38.
Feder, Stuart
(1981)
"The
nostalgia
of
Charles Ives: an
essay
in affects and
music." Journal
of psychoanalysis
10:302-32.
Foucault, Michel
(1986)
"Of other
spaces,"
translated
by Jay
Miskowlec.
Diacritics 16:22-7.
Habusha, Moshe
(musical director)
(1989)
Mizmor shir
leyom
hashabat
-
bakashot
songs of
Shabat
("Sing
a
song
for the Sabbath
day
-
baqqashoth songs
of the
Sabbath").
Jerusalem: Yeshivat
HaHayim
VeHashalom.
(Set
of 18 cassettes,
with
accompanying
booklet of
song
texts.)
Manasseh, Sara
(1999)
Women in music
performance:
the
Iraqi
Jewish
experience
in Israel. PhD
thesis,
London
University.
Soja,
Edward W.
(1995)
"Heterotopologies:
a remembrance of
other
spaces
in the citadel-LA." In S.
Watson and K. Gibson
(eds)
Postmodern cities and
spaces,
pp.
13-34. Oxford: Blackwell.
Someck, Ronny (1989)
Panther. Tel
Aviv: Zmora Bitan
[in Hebrew].
SARA MANASSEH
Kingston University
sara(&manasseh.co.
uk
California." Forced
migration
review
6
(December):
10-13
("Music
of
Iraqi
Jews in
Israel", p.13).
Clifford, James
(1994) "Diasporas."
Cultural
anthropology
9:302-38.
Feder, Stuart
(1981)
"The
nostalgia
of
Charles Ives: an
essay
in affects and
music." Journal
of psychoanalysis
10:302-32.
Foucault, Michel
(1986)
"Of other
spaces,"
translated
by Jay
Miskowlec.
Diacritics 16:22-7.
Habusha, Moshe
(musical director)
(1989)
Mizmor shir
leyom
hashabat
-
bakashot
songs of
Shabat
("Sing
a
song
for the Sabbath
day
-
baqqashoth songs
of the
Sabbath").
Jerusalem: Yeshivat
HaHayim
VeHashalom.
(Set
of 18 cassettes,
with
accompanying
booklet of
song
texts.)
Manasseh, Sara
(1999)
Women in music
performance:
the
Iraqi
Jewish
experience
in Israel. PhD
thesis,
London
University.
Soja,
Edward W.
(1995)
"Heterotopologies:
a remembrance of
other
spaces
in the citadel-LA." In S.
Watson and K. Gibson
(eds)
Postmodern cities and
spaces,
pp.
13-34. Oxford: Blackwell.
Someck, Ronny (1989)
Panther. Tel
Aviv: Zmora Bitan
[in Hebrew].
SARA MANASSEH
Kingston University
sara(&manasseh.co.
uk
MICHAEL B.
BAKAN,
Music
of
death and
new creation:
experiences
in the
world
of
Balinese
gamelan
beleganjur
The
University
of
Chicago Press,
1999. xxiii +
384pp.,
17 halftones,
8
tables,
notes, index, glossary,
MICHAEL B.
BAKAN,
Music
of
death and
new creation:
experiences
in the
world
of
Balinese
gamelan
beleganjur
The
University
of
Chicago Press,
1999. xxiii +
384pp.,
17 halftones,
8
tables,
notes, index, glossary,