Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance among Syrian Jews

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More About This Textbook

Overview

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.

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Editorial Reviews

Booknews
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.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780226752129
  • Publisher: University of Chicago Press
  • Publication date: 12/28/1998
  • Series: Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology Series
  • Edition description: 1
  • Pages: 310
  • Sales rank: 1,191,623
  • Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Table of Contents

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
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