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Reconstructing Sephardi Music in the 20th Century: Isaac Levy and his "Chants judeo-
espagnols"
Author(s): Edwin Seroussi
Source: The World of Music, Vol. 37, No. 1, Jewish Musical Culture – Past and Present
(1995), pp. 39-58
Published by: VWB - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43562848
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39
Edwin Seroussi
Abstract
The traditional music of the Sephardi Jews, the descendants of the Spanish Jews who
rsettled in the rims of the Mediterranean after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula
in 1492, had undergone in the 20th century a process of reconstruction, which includes re-
collection (i.e. recordings of the musical legacy of individual culture-bearers), re-transcrip-
tion (i.e. production of musical notations from these recordings by members of the re-
corded culture), re-presentation (i.e. staged performances by professional artists on behalf
of general audiences) of traditional music and re-location (performance outside its origi-
nal geographical and social context).
This reconstruction occurred at the initiative of individuals who manipulated tradi-
tional Sephardi music and were responsible for the ideologies behind the creation of its
new meanings. The focus of this study is Sephardi journalist, singer and music collector
Isaac Levy (1919-1977). Levy's activities included the documentation and publication of
Sephardi music in Israel, the commission of arrangements of this music by professional
composers which were then interpreted by himself or by other artists and the promotion of
these arrangements through the media. His work had an incommensurable effect on the
shaping of Sephardi music in the second half of the 20th century. This article is devoted to
his most influential collection: "Chants judeo-espagnols".
I. Theoretical Appreciations
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40 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 41
This article is devoted to some aspects of his most influential notated collection:
"Chants judeo-espagnols" (CJE).3
I inform you that during the [First World] War I tried to collect in my city, Saloniki,
a genre of folksongs known in the East as romances and together with a French of-
ficer expert in this task we took the musical notes of some of them. Now this French-
man is not in Saloniki and the notations are in his hands. When I have the possibility
of receiving from him two copies I will sent to you, Sir, one copy with all my heart. I
intend, with God's will, to immigrate in a few months to the Land of Israel and
[then] I will propose to you a comprehensive program to save our heritage of music
and songs from total and imminent annihilation, because this task is very dear to me
despite the fact that I am not a professional and have no inclination to music and
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42 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
singing; however, I am very concerned by the legacy from the past which has no sav-
iours.4
Isaac Levy was born in 1919 Manissa (a town next to Izmir), Turkey. In
1922 he immigrated to Israel with his parents. He studied voice at the Academy
of Music in Jerusalem and performed as a singer throughout the country. At the
same time he composed songs on biblical and other sacred texts as well as chil-
dren's songs, some of which became part of the Israeli "canon" of this genre. A
turning point in his career was his appointment as head of the Judeo-Spanish
program of Kol Israel in Jerusalem, in August 1954. From this post, Levy had a
primary mean of direct communication with the Judeo-Spanish speaking public
in Israel. He recruited his audience for the advancement of his collection and
indeed some listeners eventually became informants.5
Levy rarely expressed his ideas in writing. The introduction to volume I of
CJE written by Ovadia Camhy, the secretary of the World Sephardi Federation
(the publisher of this volume), contains direct quotations from Levy concerning
the methods and aims of his work: "I went from one old lady to another, from an
old man to another, to collect from their mouth the precious melodies which I
sent to you ..." ( CJE I:VI).6 The pathos of his words, those of a crusader with the
"sacred duty" (cf. Levy 1965) of saving a vanishing tradition, parallels similar
statements by previous Sephardi collectors.
Levy envisioned a process in which Israeli culture will transform itself from
an European into a "Mediterranean" one. He vaguely interpreted this adjective
as the juncture of the "ancient Eastern civilization of Israel and early Christian-
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 43
ity" with contemporary Western culture. The Sephardi Jews were, according to
Levy, the natural carriers of this legacy because they "always dwelled around the
rims of the Mediterranean and were never separated from the air and the atmos-
phere of this marvelous sea, cradle of the so-called 'Western' culture and civili-
zation" ( CJE I:VI). Therefore the future of Israel should be linked to this cul-
tural synthesis: "The melos in the new Israel has changed ... and I am convinced
that in time due our national music will be entirely Mediterranean. As the
Sephardi pronunciation of Hebrew was adopted [in Israel], so will the Judeo-
Spanish melodies serve as the basis for its music" ( CJE LVI).
The concept of an Israeli "national music" should be understood in the his-
torical context of the 1950s. This was a period when the highly centralized so-
cialist government in hands of European Jews dominated the cultural institu-
tions of the new country in accordance with secular Zionist ideology. During the
same decade, masses of Jews from Islamic countries arrived in Israel. The gov-
ernmental policy of absorption set the basis for an ongoing process of political,
social and cultural confrontation between the leadership of the state and the
new immigrants (see Smooha 1978). At this juncture, Levy was ambivalent. As a
musician trained in the Western tradition and a radio employee, he was part of
the establishment. At the same time he became, from within the official system,
an advocate of his own "Mediterranean" culture.
In a short autobiographic article Levy further expounded his ideology, amid
some details about his fieldwork (Levy 1965). He repeats his credo that the
songs in CJE will contribute to "the creation of a new Hebrew music in the
homeland" (Levy 1965:129). Thus, the impact of CJE on the art music scene was
part of Levy's purposes. As an example he mentions that Karel Salmon (Karl
Salomon, 1897-1974), then a major figure in the musical establishment of Israel,
composed a " Suite sfaradit" based on five melodies from CJE which was dedi-
cated to Pablo Casals. On the initiative of Salomon, a volume of CJE was sent to
Pablo Casals together with the score of the suite. Casals, then in political asylum
in Puerto Rico, wrote to Levy a letter dated on October 28, 1961, which in-
cluded the following remark: "In some of the songs [of CJE ] I was surprised to
find similarities with melodies from the Catalonian folklore which are certainly
of Jewish origin."
Few years later, Levy included a photocopy of the letter by Casals in the sec-
ond volume of CJE (1969). In the footsteps of his predecessors in the collection
of Sephardi music, Levy too was endorsed by a renowned Spanish musician who
attested the links between the Sephardi and Peninsular folklore.7
The partnership between Levy and the World Sephardi Federation ceased
after the publication of volume I of CJE. Volume II, published by the author, re-
produces the introduction by Camhy with some significant amendments. All ref-
erences to the Federation are omitted; volume II is presented as the second one
of the series as opposed to volume I which appeared as the third one in the series
of music publications of the Federation; finally, all references to liturgical music
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44 • the world of music 37(1) - 1993
found in Camhy's original disappeared.8 Levy also added a significant new para-
graph: "In publishing this series of volumes on the Sephardi song, we ensure not
only the preservation of this song which runs the risk of being lost, but we bring
to the Jewish music under gestation in the State of Israel the contribution of the
Sephardi traditional song" ( CJE II, introduction).
CJE became a chief source for the renaissance of the Judeo-Spanish folksong
as a genre of popular music in Israel, Spain and the United States since the early
1960s as noted by Katz (1980). 9 Its content established the standard repertoire,
while the transcriptions fixed the musical and literary "text" of the popularized
Ladino songs. In Israel, for example, the long play by Yeoram Gaon,
"Romancero sefardí ' of ca. 1971 became the first discographie success based on
Levy's repertoire, followed by the musical "Bustan sefardí', based on a play by
Isaac Navon. Later on, other popular Israeli singers and ensembles (Esther
Ofarim, Rivka Raz, Ricky Gal and Ha-parvarim) issued their own versions of
Levy's materials. Some of these arrangements, prepared by leading Israeli ar-
rangers as Shim'on Cohen, Dubi Seltzer and Arie Levanon in lavish orchestral
styles, used Hebrew translations of the Judeo-Spanish texts and became "stand-
ards" of the Israeli repertory. It is noteworthy that most arrangements used
songs from volume I of CJE of 1959. From the 1980s on, the number of Judeo-
Spanish song performers proliferated worldwide, reaching its peak in 1992
when the 500 years of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain were commemo-
rated. While the sources for arrangements expanded considerably (to include
archival field recordings too), Levy's CJE remained a major repository, direcdy
or indirectly (in recent years some performers based their recordings on earlier
commercialized versions originating on Levy).10
In contrast to the significant impact of Levy's collection on the reconstruc-
tion process of the Judeo-Spanish folksong, academics remained consistently
skeptic about the value of his work, to say the least. Critics blamed Levy for a
"total lack of editorial criteria" and complained that the collection included
"much non-traditional lyric [songs]" (Armistead & Silverman 1960, 1971). Mu-
sicologists contested the credibility of Levy's musical transcriptions, especially
since Levy's original recordings and the names of the informants never became
available for public judgment (Katz 1972-75, 1:115). Katz, in a pioneering analy-
sis of commercial recordings of traditional Sephardi songs, was most categorical
when he concluded that Levy's work caused "a contamination of the tradition"
(Katz 1980:19s).11
Since ethnomusicologists are not inspectors of musical cultures but their
critical interpreters, a different scholarly approach to Levy's work should be ex-
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 45
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46 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 47
Ex. 1. A tree of musical variants. 1:32, "Una matica de ruda" ( version of the romance "La
guirnalda de rosas", unspecified location); 111:47, "Mama no tenia visto" (Jerusalem); 11:59,
"El papás me engañó" ( Jerusalem ); 11:64, "Oh, que hermoza muchachica" (Izmir); IV:23,
"Yo quería ser palomba" (Saloniki); 11:21, "Ir me quero la mi madre" (Jerusalem)
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48 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 49
Yapaci (born Bakhar) Effendi (Adrianolopis, ca. 1860 - Cairo, ca. 1940) who
issued many commercial records of popular songs since at least 1911 (see the list
in Bunis 1981:120-2). One of these songs "El barón despreciado" (11:68-9;
rV:68), perhaps adopted to an extant French melody by Hayyim Effendi, be-
came very popular as the testimonies recorded by Levy certify.15 "Mis amigos me
dan esperanza" (1:44) was also recorded by Hayyim Effendi. "La reina de la
gracia" (111:29) with lyrics by the poet Nessim de Yehuda Pardo and music at-
tributed to the violinist and composer Hayyim Alazraki, both natives from Izmir,
was traditionalized in that city. It became famous in a recording of Isaac Algazi
(1889-1950), another famous Sephardi singer, and remained in oral tradition
until the 1970s (Seroussi 1989, no. 30). Another renowned singer was Isaac
"Çakum" Pa§arel. A detail about him transmitted by oral tradition is that the
popular song "Alta luna al esclarecer" (1:22; IIL36-7; IV:81) was composed or at
least made notorious in public by him.16
Popular Greek songs are an extremely rich resource for the modern
Sephardi cancionero reflected in CJE. A typical case is "La pastora amada" (1:28:
"Una pastora yo amť), which was identified by Nar (1993) as the poem "The
Kiss" by the Greek poet Georgios Zalokostas (1805-1858) set to music by G.
Lambiris. This popular song became an inspiration for the operetta "The Lover
of the Shepherdess" by Dimitri Koromilas premiered in Athens in 1893 and sub-
sequendy performed in Izmir (1895), Constantinople and Saloniki (1898) where
it became known to the Sephardi Jews. Nar assumes that this song was
traditionalized only in Izmir where the Greek play was assiduously performed
by Jewish troupes in Judeo-Spanish.17 The popular Greek melody of the song
La cantiga del Hanum Dudu ' (11:48-9; IV:27, 61-2: "Ventanas altas") is another
example of related musical variants (Example 2). The melody is typical of the
Jews from Saloniki and was probably transferred to Jerusalem by Salonician im-
migrants during the 19th century. There a new text was composed of which
Levy recorded three versions scattered in two volumes of CJE (11:48-9; IV:27).
These Jerusalem versions are a compound text which contains remnants of the
original song from Saloniki combined with another text, "Ni blanca ni morena" .
Other Greek melodies in CJE are "La rosa de mayo" (1:59: "La rosa enflorece "),
"La comida de la mañana" (1:77; the originai 7/8 meter is transformed by Levy
into 2/8), "La escuela de la Alianza" (111:85: "En la excola de la Alianza") which
was also adopted in Saloniki to liturgical texts (cf. Idelsohn 1923, no. 57; Lopes
Cardozo 1987:62 [with the copla "Noche de A Ih ad"]; Levy, ALJE 1:274 and
V:270) and "Maruta, Maruta pagasoma mometa" (IV:14).18
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 51
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52 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
on versions published by Levy have modern Spanish origins (late 19th - early
20th century). "El amor engañado" (1:34-5 and 80: "Yo menamori d'un aire") has
modern Andalusian origins as noticed by Pedrosa (1991:131-2). Another mod-
ern import from Spain is "La serena" of which Levy published no less than eight
versions (1:33; 11:71, 72; 111:48; IV:32-4, 74; see Pedrosa 1991:89ff.). The popu-
lar Spanish repertory of the last century is not the only Peninsular repository for
Sephardi songs. The Spanish musical theatre is represented in songs as "La
bohemiana" (111:59) which shows evident ties to the zarzuela repertory. The
traditionalization of tangos from the River Plate area in the Sephardi repertory
has already been pointed out (Seroussi 1990a). The tangos in CJE reinforce our
knowledge about this phenomenon. Rich in particular is the repertory of tangos
from the Westernized cities of Sarajevo and Sofia (11:91; 111:63; IV:85). Other
songs of Latin-American background, such as "Ay Halisca [sic] tierra mia"
(11:62), appear in Levy's anthology too.
The Zionist experience was an integral part of Sephardi culture ever since
the spread of this movement to the Eastern Mediterranean, especially after
World War I. The identification of the Sephardi intelligentsia with the Jewish
national movement was part of the process of modernization, particularly in
major cities such as Saloniki and Istanbul. Youth clubs were the stage for the
singing of Hebrew songs imported by envoys from Palestine. Local composers
wrote additional songs in Judeo-Spanish for festive occasions and for theatre
plays of nationalistic content and some survived in oral tradition. "La bandera de
Sión" (1:17: "Sion, tú mi ojo prieto") was composed in honor of the first Zionist
Congress in Basle 1897; "La esperanza palestina" was very well known in Saloniki
(111:112; rV:53-5: "Palestina hermosa y santa") and Sofia (IV:56). An interesting
example of this genre is the complex song or hymn of Maccabi Saloniki, a Zion-
ist sports organization, "Despues de miles de años" (IV:52).25 Finally, the massive
settlement of Sephardi Jews in Palestine after the 1940s exposed them to new
Israeli songs. Levy recorded one case, "Madres amargadas" (IV:45), which is a
Judeo-Spanish version of a song from the War of Independence, "Be'arvot ha-
Negev" ("On the Negev Steppes", lyrics by Refael Klatzkin set to a Russian folk
melody).26
To crown this overview of the boundless sources of the eclectic Sephardi
musical repertory we can mention a curious item from CJE : a melody which, ac-
cording to Levy, was employed by composer Abraham Goldfadn (1840-1908)
for the song "Yidden bnei rachmonim" from his operetta "Die Zauberin" ("The
Sorcerer", partially published for the first time in New York, 1900). The melody
is, surprisingly enough, adopted to two old Hispanic romances'. "Casada con un
viejo" (1:67) and a very fragmentary version of "Delgadina" from Sofia (IV:7).
Needless to say, Levy's hypothesis is implausible. Yiddish operettas (by
Goldfadn included) were staged in Sephardi communities (Romero 1983: index,
passim) and therefore the likelihood is that this melody was adopted by Sephardi
singers in the 20th century. Yet, the remnants of medieval Hispanic romances
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 53
7. Conclusion
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54 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
Fig. 1. Issac Levy (left) and Yaakov Nitzani at the Kol Israel studio during the early days of
the Judeo-Spanish programs (ca. 1957). Courtesy of Moshe Shaul, Jerusalem, private
collection
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Seroussi. Reconstructing Sephardi Music • 55
Notes
1 The concept of reconstruction occurred to me from the reading of the article "The Music of t
Sephardi Jews" by Sephardi composer and folklorist Alberto Hemsi (included in Hemsi 1995). I glad
adopted it, although not in the exact same sense as Hemsi, because it appeared as a "native" conce
too. For previous studies of transformations in traditional Sephardi music and poetry see Katz 198
Cohen 1987 and 1989; Salama 1993; Seroussi 1988, 1990a and 1993. "Reconstruction" appears as
theoretical concept in the study of other 20th-century music cultures. See, for example, Stokes 199
chapter 3 in relation to contemporary Turkish music.
2 For previous overviews of Levy's work see Katz 1972-75 (Vol. 1:1 14-20) and Katz 1980. For a study
contrafacta based on the collections by Levy, see Bahat 1986.
3 Four volumes (see References). In the quotations in this study the volumes are marked with Roman n
merals and songs with Arabian ones. His other major work, "Antología de la litúrgia judeo-española" (10
vols., 1964-1980, Jerusalem: The Author; vol. X is posthumous; hereby ALJE), which had a very differ
ent fate than CJE, will be the subject of a separate study.
4 Letter from Isaac Refael Molkho to Idelsohn of 14 Tevet 5679 [=1918] found at the A. Z. Idelsohn es
tate, Jewish National and University Library, Music Department, Mus. 7 (436). The French officer is th
musicologist Eugene Borrel who published in 1924 five Sephardi songs collected in Saloniki and Izm
See Katz 1972-75, 1:60-8, especially p. 64, notes 3-5.
5 See Anon. 1982. 1 am grateful to Mr. Moshe Shaul, former director of the Judeo-Spanish program at
Israel and a collaborator of Isaac Levy for providing me with this and other information for this artic
6 A few years later Levy told how a first draft of volume I of CJE , apparendy prepared by 1956, was lost
a Jerusalem bus and almost disheartened him from pursuing his "sacred" work. The work was resumed
after 1957 at the initiative of Yaacov Nitzani, a Sephardi member of the Knesset (Israeli Parlament), an
a long time supporter of Levy in the early stages of his career (see Levy 1965).
7 The original letter reproduced by Levy in volume II of CJE of 1969 is slightly shorter than his Hebr
translation printed earlier (1965:129). A paragraph in praise of Salmon's Suite was deleted. Apparent
Levy "edited" the manuscript letter of Casals for publication!
8 It is unknown if Camhy agreed to have his introduction reproduced with such changes.
9 Levy's work was not the first source for arrangements of Judeo-Spanish traditional songs in Israe
abroad. He was preceded in Palestine by Bracha Zefíra in the 1930s (see Zefira 1978). Perhaps othe
contemporary singers of Zefira made public appearances upon their immigration to Palestine. I was abl
to locate the recording of two Judeo-Spanish folk songs from circa 1936 by a singer named Rica B
Dagan at the still unpublished Robert Lachmann collection located at the National Sound Archives
Jerusalem. Mrs. Bar Dagan, a native from Serbia (probably Sarajevo) was recorded by Lachmann in
"arranged" performance in Jerusalem accompanied by the legendary Iraqi-Jewish 'ud player Ezr
Aharon who immigrated to Palestine few years before. Singers as Gloria Levy, Refael Elnadav and R
Eliran issued commercial records in the United States before the impact of Levy's work was felt.
10 For an exhaustive discography of Sephardi commercial recordings see Cohen 1993.
1 1 The unavailability of Levy's recordings led, to a certain measure, to renewed ethnographic efforts in th
field of the Judeo-Spanish folksong in Israel. Noteworthy are the recordings by Susana Weich-Shahak
the National Sound Archives (Jewish National and University Library) and the collection of the Ladino
program at Kol Israel, directed by Moshe Shaul. Both efforts started in the mid-1970s and include item
by some of Levy's informants. The name of one of Levy's informants and the circumstances of his dis
covery were disclosed (Levy 1965). His name is Shelomo (Salomon) Altarac, native of Sarajevo, a sho
maker from the Bak'a neighbourhood where Levy dwelled. Levy recorded from him songs included
volume I of CJE.
12 Full credit to an early, balanced appraisal of the Judeo-Spanish repertory deserves Moshe Attias. In
"Cancionero judeo-español" (1972) Attias treated in detail the modern strata of Sephardi songs.
13 The titles of Sephardi songs used in this study are adopted from three major sources. Romances are tide
after the "Catálogo-Indice" by Samuel Armistead et al. (1978); coplas after "Bibliografía analítica
ediciones de coplas sefardíes" by Elena Romero (1992a); and lyric songs after the unpublished catalog
designed by Jose M. Pedrosa under the guidance of Iacob M. Hassan for the Proyekto Folklor of th
Ladino program of Kol Israel and applied in Hemsi (1995). When songs do not appear in one of the
catalogues the opening verse is used as title. I wish to thank here Mr. Avner Peretz who provided me a
computerized file containing all the data relative to Levy's CJE.
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56 • the world of music 37(1) - 1995
14 Coffee houses are mentioned in Sephardi songs included in CJE ; see, "El pretendiente despreciado"
(111:24-5: "En el cafe de Amaneser"-, this is apparently a deformation of "En el café de Menashé" , cf. the
Kol Israel recording FL AD 331/01) and "Los mancebos de Buenos Aires" ("Buenos Aires se hinchó de
mancebos"). A cafe named "Buenos Aires" existed in Izmir. It was owned by Jews and offered live musi-
cal performances; see, the announcement in the Judeo-Spanish periodical El Nuvelista 19, no. 36 (June
3, 1908), p. 236.
15 Indeed Eugene Borrel (1924) who heard this song before 1918 notes that its melody recalls the "Ronde
de Nicette" from the third act of "Pre aux clercs", an opera by Ferdinand Herold (see the piano edition,
Paris: Troupenas, 1849, pp. 154ff.). In relation to this and other songs of the Sephardi Jews of Saloniki
ca. 1916-1918 he adds the following remark: "Y a-t-il eu imitation, le théâtre occidental regnant sans
conteste en Orient depuis fort long temps? La mélodie ancienne, venue d'Espagne, a-t-elle été replacée par
une nouvelle, ou a-t-elle été profondement transformée au contact d'airs occidentaux ...?"
16 This singer is probably the same as "Çakum" Effendi who recorded at least one commercial record of
Sephardi liturgical music (Bunis 1981, no. 1094).
17 On March 12, 1903, students of the Alliance Israelite Universelle performed the Judeo-Spanish version
of the Greek play on behalf of the local Jewish hospital under the title "La chobana" ("The Shepherd-
ess"). On March 10, 1906 it was staged once again under the title "La amante de la pastora: Drama muy
esmovido en 5 actos"-, another performance is recorded for the year 1914 (Romero 1983, index). Hemsi
collected it as a traditional song from Izmir as early as 1933 (Hemsi 1995, no. 82) and Diaz Plaja re-
corded it in the same city slightly later (Diaz Plaja 1934).
18 One could add at this point the particular case of the Bosnian Sephardi Jews, whose repertory shows
adoptions from the local Muslim genres, particularly sevdalinka. See Petrovic 1990.
19 This melody was adopted to the Hebrew song by H. N. Bialik "Yesh li gan" in the 1920s and became a
popular Israeli song thereafter (see Zefira 1978:219, 236-7; Bayer 1980:56-60).
20 For songs of popular European musical origins see, for example, "La declaración del diesiochoañero"
(1:51: "Diesiocho años tengo")-, "La carrocina" (11:46: "Madmoasellle Sarica ")•, "El amor f unente" (11:65:
"Enfrente la caza tuya moro")-, and "Tu me dizes '«""(11:67).
2 1 See, for example: "Los amantes de la casa rica" (1:30: "Pajaro de hermosura")-, "Por ver tu cara morena"
(1:31: "Avre este abajur')-, "Tus ojicos joya mia" (1:79); "La malcasada con un viejo" (1:81: "Sos muy
hermosa")-, "Rendez-vous a ti te dava" (1:97); "El pretendiente despreciado" (11:74: "Hermosa muchachi-
ca")' "Los años de amor" (11:92: "Niña sos de baxa gente")-, "El amor furiente" (IV:49: "Rio corriente"), etc.
22 This correspondence was noticed by Katz (1980). The apocryphal story that Verdi had actually learned
this melody from Sephardi Jews during a stay in Corfu is unverified.
23 This rare survival was identified by Leonor Carracedo (1989). Judith Cohen recorded an oral version of
a Judeo-Spanish song based on the melody of "Valentine" from the musical "Il candide" which was made
famous by Maurice Chevalier. The Judeo-Spanish text appeared in the chapbook of satirical songs "Los
cantes deSadiky Gazoz" [5], Saloniki, ca. 1925 (cf. Cohen 1989).
24 For an attempt to establish parallels between songs published by Levy and Spanish folk songs, see
Querol 1984. For the renewed ties with the Peninsula as reflected in the Sephardi musical repertory, see
Seroussi [forthc].
25 On Sephardi Zionist songs see Attias (1972). The music of these songs is generally in a martial style. Cf.
the hymn of the organization Benot Tsyion ("Daughters of Zion") from Saloniki in Attias 1972:319.
26 Translations and paraphrases of popular Israeli songs (e.g. "Jerusalem of Gold" by Naomi Shemer) are
still customary among Israeli Sephardim.
27 According to Katz "Mr. Levy's enviable position as a prime spokesman for Sephardi culture has for long
been a bone of contention among the more traditionally minded Sephardic leaders who have criticized
him for his stylized renditions of traditional music" (1967:160). I was not able to corroborate this state-
ment. Scholarly-oriented Sephardi intellectuals, aware of Levy's reconstruction of the repertory, per-
ceived the public impact of his works in a positive vein. Moshe Attias, for example, wrote that "Levy's
special merit resides in the introduction of Sephardi songs to the Israeli scene" (Attias 1972:328).
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