Al Dio Alto – Haim Effendi

In spite of his preeminence as a singer and musician during his lifetime, we have very few details about the life of Haim Effendi. Haim Behar Menahem, Haim Effendi was born in Edirne (formerly Adrianople in Western Thrace, today Turkey) in 1853. Owing to his birthplace he was also known as Edirneli Haim Effendi and owing to the family’s profession as Haim Yapa??,  or «Haim the wool man or Wool Merchant.» He spent most of his life Edirne but also toured extensively. From 1925 to 1936 he lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He passed away in Cairo in 1937.

Paraliturjik Sephardic song

According to the Greek researcher Aristomenis Kalyviotis, Haim Effendi recorded Turkish repertory for Odeon in 1906-1907, and probably even earlier (1905), in Constantinople. His first Sephardic recordings came in 1907-1908. He doubtless made the acquaintance of the Blumenthal brothers, Julius and Hermann, who served as local agents for Odeon. When they founded the Ottoman Empire’s first indigenous recording label, he recorded both Turkish and Sephardi repertory for them, from ca. 1911 to ca. 1926. His recorded output for Orfeon soon eclipsed his early Odeon work. Altogether, he recorded more songs than any other Sephardic recording artist.