eSefarad Noticias del Mundo Sefaradi
The Jewish Music Research Centre is proud to present Hidden Voices—Ladino Songs from over 100 years ago: Hadass Pal-Yarden, a special concert presenting material contained in the new release, Eastern Mediterranean Judeo-Spanish Songs from the EMI Archive Trust (1907-1912). The event features Hadass Pal-Yarden, one of Israel's leading vocalists in the Judeo-Spanish tradition, along with an ensemble featuring some of Jerusalem’s top musicians in the genre.
This concert, part of the Jerusalem Oud Festival, will take place at the Confederation House in Jerusalem on Sunday, November 22 at 7 p.m.
Israel time, and will be broadcast live on their Facebook page and YouTube channel free of charge.
For more information see here.
Hadass Pal-Yarden: musical direction, vocals
Yaniv Ovadia: baglama
Eliyahu Digmi: 1/4 tone guitar, oud, saz
Yoni Sharon: percussion
Amitay Mann: clarinet
Commentaries: Prof. Edwin Seroussi
In 2008 the Jewish Music Research Centre released a 4 CD package entitled An Early 20 th -century Sephardi Troubadour: The Historic Recordings of Haim Effendi of Turkey. Catering to the increasing scholarly and general public interest in the role commercial recordings had on musical traditions from the early twentieth century, that production became a landmark in the revised appreciation of Sephardic music prior to the rapid chain of events leading to the dissolution of the traditional communities that maintained this music. On the occasion of the release of Haim Effendi’s recorded oeuvre, we stressed that the song in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) is a classical locus for a study of the interplay between oral traditions and the emergent recorded music industry at the turn of the twentieth century. In this context we noticed the crucial impact that exposure to early commercial recordings had on individuals whose musical lore had been studied after World War II as “oral tradition.”
Scholarly access to early 78 rpm records of Sephardic songs and selected reissues of these recordings has expanded our vistas regarding the repertoires heard in many Sephardic homes, social clubs and cafés in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Although Haim Effendi dominated the playlist of Sephardic communities at that time in terms of his proportional share of the market, he was by no means the only artist recorded. Once again, access to rare historical recordings known to us via old catalogues of recording companies, newspaper commercial ads and occasional witnesses, was scanty.
For this reason, locating and releasing the rich repository of Judeo-Spanish recordings at the EMI Archive Trust, heir to the Gramophone and Zonophone companies, represents a further breakthrough in the study of the Sephardic song. This collection not only brings to light the forgotten voices of many Sephardic artists extremely popular a century and more ago, but also expands the geographical distribution of recordings to Ottoman Jewish centers beyond Constantinople/Istanbul. Moreover, the EMI collection includes recordings that preceded those of Haim Effendi, locating this famous Sephardic troubadour within a wider context and broadening the confines of the Ladino song repertoire known until now. The picture of the state of Sephardic music in the large urban centers of the Ottoman Empire ca. 1890-1918 is now more textured and varied thanks to these precious recordings preserved in the holdings of the EMI Archive Trust.
Tracing historical recordings around the globe and acquiring fair copies requires perseverance and an intuition characteristic of the most sagacious detectives.
Michael Aylward uncovered the initial location of the EMI Ladino recordings in London. He also provided this project with an in-depth analysis of the context in which these precious recordings were carried out. Joel Bresler, publisher of www.sephardicmusic.org and indefatigable pioneer of the Judeo-Spanish discography,once again offered his invaluable services as an intermediary in our negotiations with EMI as well as in facilitating the realization of digital copies of these old records.
Through Joel’s initiative and efforts, the reissue of the EMI Archive Trust collection became one of the projects of the Jewish Music Research Centre at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Finally, our colleague Risto Pekka Pennanen contributed his share of knowledge by contextualizing the Bosnian Sephardic recordings in the EMI collection that would have been impossible without him.
Joanna Hughes, Heritage Curator of the EMI Archive Trust was our dedicated partner during the long gestation of the collaboration between EMI and the JMRC.
Her professional handling of all the details of the transaction allowing the present publication has been invaluable.
Getting fine digital copies of the EMI recordings was just the first step in a long and demanding process. Decoding the contents of these recordings became an overwhelming task. In this effort Rivka Havassy joined me, once again. Her unfailing dedication to this project contributed enormously to the invaluable notes to the songs in this collection. I wholeheartedly thank Rivka for her efforts on behalf of the completion of this complex enterprise.
Other colleagues collaborated with this project and we are indebted to them for their kind cooperation. First among them is Judith R. Cohen from York University in Toronto, who was a partner in uncovering the EMI collection and assisted us with the liner notes. Eliezer Papo from Ben Gurion University assisted us with his unparalleled command of the Sephardic tradition from Sarajevo and superb knowledge of Ladino.
Dov Hacohen, from Bar Ilan University, also assisted us with the identification of texts in Ladino. Walter Zev Feldman clarified the relationship between the recorded items and Ottoman Turkish musical genres and modes.
Partner foundations and institutions contributed to the fruition of this publication. The Centre for Research and Study of the Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Heritage (Misgav Yerushalayim) and its director, Yaron Ben Naeh, gave unfailing financial support for this project. We thank them for their trust in our capability to bring this project to its completion. Also, the Naime and Yehoshua Salti Institute for Ladino Studies at Bar Ilan University and its director, Shmuel Refael, deserve our thanks for their support of this and other projects of the JMRC in the field of Judeo-Spanish culture.
Finally, the Jack and Beulah Bresler Tzedakah Fund funded the digitization of the recordings, a highly critical stage of this project. We are grateful for their generosity without which this project would not have attained its present technological level.
Edwin Seroussi
