This recording is subtitled "Living Traditions of the Orient" and is supposed to be followed up with
"Medieval Spain and the Hispanic tradition."
The present recording reflects the dual diaspora: toward Turkey in the East,
or remaining in the Western Mediterranean, and is reflected today in two distinct modern traditions.
And keep in mind that this music is distinctly modern.
The opening track, for instance, is audibly influenced by the Turkish styles of Central Asia, i.e. completely post-Ottoman.
There is a nice range of styles here, reflected both in the vocal tone and the instrumental accompaniment."
— medieval.org
The Balkans and the Ottoman Empire
SARBAND
"Since
the earliest days of our youth we have been accustomed to living in a
supernatural universe. In our ghettoes, somewhere in the endlessness of
the Maghreb, from Djerba to Rabat and Marrakesh, from the High Atlas to
the Sahara at the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, the visitor, upon
entering our low dwellings at the end of often narrow alleys, full of
wooden shacks where merchants or craftsmen, crouching on the ground,
were performing the same or virtually the same tasks as those which had
been customary in the East in Biblical times, was immediately overcome
by I know not what manner of Biblical fragrance of the Orient..." (André
Chouraqui, from: Ce que je croix)
Vladimir Ivanoff
Vladimir Ivanoff
SARBAND Translation: Janet & Michael Berridge
Ⓟ 1996, JARO Medien • © 1996, BMG Music
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (BMG) 05472 77372 2
1996
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (BMG) "Splendeurs" 93564
I. Living Traditions of the Orient
[II. Hispano-arabic Tradition of Medieval Spain]
Wedding song · Cantica de boda (Plovdiv, Estambul, Sarajevo)
1. [7:52]
Una ramika de ruda — Hochzeitslied / Bulgarien: Plovdiv
Una matika de ruda — Hochzeitslied / Türkei: Istanbul
Una matika de ruda — Hochzeitslied / Bosnien: Sarajewo
This,
perhaps the most popular of all Sephardic wedding songs. has survived
in nearly all the Sephardic colonies, with the most diverse tunes. All
of the different versions feature one basic element which never changes:
the wine rue twig, which deflects the "evil eye" and is therefore meant
to bring the newly-weds luck.
Romance (Bulgaria) — Nana (Bosnia)
2. [9:47]
A kasar el rey — Romanze / Bulgarian – Bosnien
Anderleto — Wiegenlied / Bosnien
Various
versions of this old romance are known in nearly all the Sephardic
communities; from Jerusalem via Asia Minor, Bursa, Istanbul, Rhodes to
Sofia. The story is based on the legend of Landarico (Anderleto), the
Merovingian princess Fredegunda's servant. It tells the story of a Queen
who has fallen in love with her servant Anderleto. She bears him twin
sons, while two other sons are the King's children.
Assuming that the
King is out hunting, she sings her four children a lullaby, which is
simultaneously a love song to her slave. The King plans to surprise her;
instead of hunting he creeps secretly into the Queen's bedroom and as
she mistakes him for Anderleto, he is party to her love-song to her
servant and the two children the slave has fathered her.
The
beginning of the tale, of three verses and with its own tune, is in the
Bulgarian-Sephardic tradition. The other verses are after the Bosnian
manner.
Nana (Bosnia)
3. Morikos [4:38]
Wiegenlied / Bosnien: Sarajewo
The
beginning of this ballad is contained in the songs "La reina Xarifa"
and "Las hermanas reina y cautiva" (The two sisters, Queen and prisoner,
from Thessaloniki, Greece): the Moorish Queen of Almeria orders a raid
on Christian territory in order to procure a female slave of noble
birth. The opening verses of "La reina Xarifa" set the scene and explain
the story.
The Queen's Moors take a Countess prisoner and kill her
husband, Flores. Later the Queen and the Countess both give birth on the
same day and the Queen acclaims the slave as her sister, when she sings
her child a lullaby.
The end of this verse conforms with the beginning of the Bosnian romance — "Morikos.- Many geographical and historical
coordinates of the story were lost in the Bosnian tradition.
Nana (Turquía, Grecia)
4. Nani nani [6:12]
Wiegenlied / Türkei – Griechenland
A
lullaby in the Turkish tradition with a tune in Makam Hijaz. Additional
verses in other surviving versions of the song reveal the father of the
child to be the man who deceived the mother.
Mediterranean
Romance (España, Marruecos, Orán)
5. [7:52]
Quien huviesse tal ventura —
Diego PISADOR. Libro de Musica de Vihuela, Salamanca, 1552
Gerineldo — Romanze /
Marokko – Algerien: Oran
The Gerineldo
romance is based on a legend from the time of Charlemagne and tells of
the unhappy love affair between Eginard (770-840), secretary and
historian (author of the Vita Karoli) to Charlemagne, and the emperor's daughter.
The
text to Diego Pisador's 16th century vihuela song provides only the
first lines of a ballad. The main character Gerineldo of the Sephardic
tradition is replaced by a Prince Arnaldos. In our recording, this is
followed by the second and third verses of the song, with two different
Moroccan-Sephardic tunes which have survived with this story, and then a
version of the romance from Algeria. The outline of the original
Spanish melody, as passed on by Pisador, has been wholly preserved in
the two Moroccan versions, while in the probably more recent version
from Algeria the original tune has undergone a shift to tonality.
Romance (Tesalónica, Tetuán, Alcazarquivir)
6. Abenámar [5:22]
Romanze / Griechenland: Saloniki – Marokko: Tetuan, Alcazarquivir
This
romance, which has only survived in fragments, was originally sung in
Arabic. It tells of the Arabian prince Abenamar and King John II of
Castille.
In another version of this romance King Juan tries to no avail to exchange the city of Granada for Cordoba and Seville.
Romance (Estambul, Sofía, Tesalónica, Libia, Jerusalén)
7. La rosa enflorese [9:03]
Romanze / Bulgarien: Sofia – Türkei: Istanbul –
Griechenland: Saloniki –
Libyen – Jerusalem
In
many Sephardic communities the religious song (piyyut) "Tsur Mishelo
Achalnu- is sung at the first Sabbath meal on Friday evening to the tune
of this Sephardic love-song.
Vladimir Ivanoff
Fadia El-Hage (Lebanon) — Gesang
Belinda Sykes (England) — Gesang, Schalmeien, Dudelsack
Mustafa Doğan Dikmen (Türkei) — Ney, Kudüm, Gesang
Ihsan Mehmet Özer (Türkei) — Kanun
Ahmed Kadri Rizeli (Türkei) — Kemenge, Perkussion
Mehmet Cemal Yęsilçay (Deutschland, Türkei) — Ud, Djura, Perkussion
Vladimir Ivanoff (Deutschland, Bulgarien) — Perkussion, Ud, Renaissancelaute
Sepharad
The
Sepharad sphere of influence was initially only encapsulated in the
word of the Bible. Its geographical location was as yet undefined, when
Genesis began its way and the Israelites left the land of their fathers.
Over the centuries the term "Sepharad" gained in cultural, religious
and historical significance. Since then, in addition to a place of
exile, "Sepharad" has held a promise of a religious conviction and of
cultural self-determination. Over two thousand years ago the Jews fled
from Nebuchadnezzar and the ruins of the Jewish empire and gradually
crossed the Mediterranean. Since Roman times there has been evidence of
Sephardic Jews in the Iberian peninsula. In 589 Christianity was
declared the official state religion by the ruling western Goths.
Exercising repression in the form of forced baptism and death threats,
these new Christians forced thousands of Jews to leave the Iberian
peninsula.
As a result, those Jews who remained behind viewed the
Islamic conquest of Spain in the year 711 more as a liberation than a
threat. In the Muslim state order Jews had the opportunity of rising to
high positions in the government and administration. The Jewish
communities in medieval Spain were therefore strongly linked with the
Muslim emirates and especially with the caliphate of Cordoba. The
Arabian-Hispanic Middle Ages represent an important chapter of Judaic
history. After participating in the Near East in the golden age of
classical Arab culture, Jews played an important role in Spain as
mediators between Arab and Christian culture, and Jewish poetry and
music consequently reached a new pinnacle. In the 13th and 14th century
Jews were also musicians at the Castilian court. Together with Arab
musicians they undoubtedly played an important role in the performance
of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (eleven of which tell of Jewish
life and culture in Spain), compiled by King Alfonso el Sabio (1252-84).
At the court of Sancho IV, in addition to thirteen Christian and
fifteen Arab musicians, the Jew Ismaël played the rota (harp) and accompanied his wife when she danced.
The
14th century, when the Catholic reconquest of Spain made considerable
progress, brought the harmonious cohabitation of Spanish Christians,
Jews and Muslims to an end. The pogroms and persecutions of 1391 led to
mass conversions of Jews and Muslims. The mid-15th century saw the
establishment of the Inquisition, which accused many conversos (those
who had converted from other religions) of practising their original
beliefs in secret.
The exodus of Hispanic Jews began on August 2,
1492: in the course of just a few months it is believed that over
160.000 Jews were forced by the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella
to leave Spain and all Spanish sovereign territories in the most
undignified manner. Many Sephardic Jews fled to French Provence.
Hispanic Jews who had converted to Christianity also settled as late as
the 17th century in Bordeaux, Marseilles and Bayonne, after they too had
been forced to leave Spain and Portugal. Many Sephardim sought to start
a new life on the north African coast. The majority however, 60,000 or
more in number, found haven in the sovereign territories of the Ottoman
Empire: in Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Adrianople (Edirne),
Gallipoli, Ankara, in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and the Balkan states.
Sultan Bayezit remarked on the exodus of the Sephardim thus: "It is said
that King Ferdinand, King of Castille and Aragon, is a clever man, but
by driving the Jews from his own country, he is impoverishing his empire
and enriching mine." Some Sephardic communities were also established
in Italy (Ferrara, Livorno), and after the end of Spanish rule in the
Netherlands (Amsterdam), in Germany, Austria and in the New World.
Sephardic Music: History and Allegory
In
the Diaspora Hispanic Jews handed down their medieval Spanish past -
customs, music and language - in undiluted form. The traditional songs
characteristic of the Sephardic Jews were and still are to this day the romanzas in the Jewish-Spanish tongue - judezmo - which is today sometimes misinterpreted as ladino (this term actually refers to translations from the Hebrew into Spanish: ladinar) and corresponds to djudiyo in the Levante and haketiya
in the Maghreb. The lyrics of these songs recount the lives of Spanish
Jewry and tell of Spanish history. Only a few written examples of this
music have survived from the Spanish Middle Ages. However, in addition
to the images conjured up by Sephardic music taken from medieval
sources, the Sephardims' verbal heritage provides a guide to this
immensely rich musical culture.
The development of Sephardic
music is inexorably linked to the history of Spanish Jews following
their expulsion. After leaving Spain and Portugal the Sephardims settled
in numerous communities in the Mediterranean region. There they sang
their songs brought from Spain and sought to maintain their Spanish
culture. In the new environment, usually far from Spanish influence,
they lived in close communities defiantly keeping their Spanish mother
tongue and glorifying their Spanish past.
Since the song
repertoire was and to some extent still is a significant element of
Sephardic community life, it was possible to preserve their songs over
five centuries. This living tradition, in which the exiles handed down
old Spanish epic stories in late medieval Castilian, was greatly
influenced by the various languages and musical cultures of the
countries in which the Sephardims lived. The Sephardic way of life
eventually blended with local traditions in their host countries. As
early as the Middle Ages Spanish Jews had worked closely with musicians
from other cultures and this tradition was continued seamlessly after
the exodus. Not only were tunes integrated into the performance of
sacred and secular poetry, but many musical elements too, such as the
modal tone system, rhythmic and metric characteristics, melodic
embellishment and cadence forms, all flowed into the traditional
repertoire. In addition, numerous new songs developed which make up the
main body of the repertoire still sung today. By the beginning of the
18th century at the latest the Sephardic colonies of the western and
eastern Mediterranean (Ottoman Empire) formed two clearly
distinguishable and independent cultures. The "western" or north African
was able, due to its geographical proximity, to maintain its ties to
the Iberian peninsula, while the "eastern" camp was to a great extent
exposed to new influences.
It is therefore possible to define two
main traditions within Sephardic song culture, where its repertoire,
melodic structures and performance practice are concerned: that of the
eastern Mediterranean, mostly under Turkish and Balkan (generally
Ottoman) influence and that of the western Mediterranean, which was
significantly influenced by Moroccan and Spanish elements. With Europe's
increasing political and economic influence on the Middle East since
colonization, western musical influences have increased, especially in
northern Africa.
Any formal matching of songs from the western
and eastern repertoires, that is from two independent music traditions
which enjoyed only a minimum of mutual contact, points to the fact that
both traditions have handed down, quite independently of one another,
some of the repertoire and/or characteristics of the medieval Sephardic
romance heritage in Spain. Some Sephardic Jews continued their
emigration from Thessaloniki and Constantinople, the two central
colonies in the Ottoman Empire, to Jerusalem, where an important
Sephardic community developed which even today is still an amalgam of
Palestinian, Turkish and Balkan elements. This accounts for the many
matching features in the lyrics and tunes of the Palestinian and Balkan
songs.
The female voice is dominant in traditional Sephardic
musical performance. Many of the topics featured in the songs are
represented from a woman's point of view, since it was the women who, in
the Diaspora, passed on the Sephardic traditions to their daughters.
Today the singers further the living tradition, accompanying themselves
on the frame drum or pandeiro. The Spanish monk Andrés Bernáldez
was an observer of the Jews' expulsion from Spain and left the following
lines, documenting the important role of women in Sephardic singing
tradition: "They left the country in which they were born. Great and
small, young and old, on foot, donkeys or in carts, each followed the
path to his or her chosen destination. Some stopped at the wayside, some
collapsed from exhaustion, others were ill, yet others dying. No fellow
creature could have failed to have pity on these unhappy people. All
along the way there were constant appeals for them to accept baptism,
but their rabbis instructed them to refuse and implored the women to
sing, beat their drums and to uplift their souls."
Later, in the
Diaspora, the Sephardic romances were adapted, some of them by
professional, usually male, Jewish musicians and performed in coffee
houses and taverns. In the same way, sacred texts such as the piyyutim were - and still are - set to romance tunes.
The Romance
In
Spain as early as the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance the romance
or ballad was a very popular song-form. It originally survived as a folk
song handed down in verbal form and was only introduced to the Spanish
court towards the end of the 15th century. Like most Sephardic romances,
especially those handed down through the eastern scion, the 15th
century romance, as described in various documents including the Cancionero
musical de Palacio and (described as a romance viejo) in the tablatures
of 16th century vihuelists, has a mainly poetic 16-syllable structure
with assonant rhymes and a musical form with four phrases of equal
length.
The first musical phrase often has an arched, rising and
then descending melodic contour: sometimes, we encounter a purely
ascending melody line. The second melodic phrase is usually higher and
touches the melodic highpoint. These two melody lines are seldom
identical. The third melodic section then descends through an extensive
tonal arc to the deeper cadence. The fourth phrase of limited tonal
extent often ends the melody in a cadenced downward movement.
Many of the melodies are based on a descending chromatic tetrachord which is also characteristic of the musiqà andalusiyya. In the eastern Mediterranean region melodies can often be attributed to the modes (makamât)
of Islamic musical culture: the Hüsseynî, Ushâk, Bayâti, Hicâz,
Hicâzkâr, Púselik, Nihâvent and Ferahfeza modes are frequently
encountered. In the western Mediterranean, especially in Morocco, the
diatonic principle was applied to the melodies, probably under later
European influence, and they were made to conform with major-minor key
tonality.
In the rhythmic-metric performance of the romances
metric and non-metric sections are often interwoven. The eastern
tradition reveals a strong tendency towards a performance completely
devoid of metric and rhythmic constraints, while in the western Moroccan
repertoire the abrupt shift from binary and tertiary metre is popular.
Choice of works
I. Living traditions of the Orient
The
songs chosen by SARBAND for the first section of the journey through
the Sephardic world are still to this day an integral part of
traditional Judeo-Hispanic female singing: cradle songs, wedding songs,
songs of the kitchen. Nevertheless, the repertoire of the 19th and early
20th centuries is also included: salon romances and popular coffee
house songs from the Orient, inspired by the contemporary Andalusian copla.
II. Medieval Spain and the Hispanic tradition
In
the second section of our journey through time and cultures the
significance of Judaic musical culture in the preservation and dynamic
modification of medieval Spanish romances on the one hand and of the
Arab-Andalusian muwassahat and harjas is demonstrated by
means of the various compositional modes. It is our aim to create a
living audio document of the former symbiosis of medieval story-telling
of north Spanish, Andalusian or HispanicJewish origin with oriental
melodies from Asia Minor or the Balkans: the sphere of influence of
"Sepharad".
Thanks
Without the basic research,
collections of documents and publications of Léon Algazi, H. Anglés,
Samuel G. Armistead, Hanoch Avenary, Avner Bahat, Eugène Borrel, Judith
Cohen, José Antonio de Donostia, Judith Etzion, Edith Gerson-Kiwi,
García Gómez, Alberto Hemsi, A. Z. Idelsohn, Israel J. Katz, Isaac Levy,
Leo Levy, Benjamin M. Liu, Manuel Manrique de Lara, Michael Molho,
Eduardo Martines Torner, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, James T. Monroe, Joaquín
Rodrigo, Edwin Seroussi, Amnon Shiloah, Joseph H. Silverman, Samuel
Miklos Stern, Susana Weich-Shahak, David Wulstan, Henrietta Yurchenco,
Rodrigo de Zayas, to mention just some of the researchers, our journey
through the history of Sephardic songs, which is meant to be a creative
new study on the basis of the numerous sources which have emerged over
the past hundred years, would not have been possible.
"Sarband"
is a term from Persian and Arabic denoting the improvised connection of
two parts within a suite. Vladimir Ivanoff, who founded the ensemble in
1986, pursues an archaelogy of complex connections. Sarband aims above
all to demonstrate the links between European music, and the Jewish and
Islamic musical cultures. Sensitively, and with great intensity, Sarband
celebrates the symbiosis of Orient and Occident. The inter-reaction
within the ensemble is of a continuous nature, aspiring to an equal
dialogue. Exchange of experience with musicians from different cultures
lends to Sarband's performances the greatest possible degree of authenticity, making them exciting and lively.
In
their performance of medieval music the Turkish. Italian. English,
Bulgarian. Arab and German musicians involved in the project employ a
colourful range of instruments, vocal and instrumental techniques and
the art of improvisation as can still be found today in the Islamic
culture. With its musically unique concert repertoire Sarband has made a name for itself on the international scene. Sarband
has been appearing over the past few years at numerous international
festivals of various leanings, from early music to avant-garde.
The Sarband
musicians do not see their activities as a sporadic venture, but as an
expression of existence and life itself. While in this day and age the
emphasis is usually on the religious, economic, cultural and
political
differences between the Orient and the West, Sarband's musical
performances aim to demonstrate that music at least was not merely an
embellishment, but a liberal-minded medium of mutual respect and can
continue to be such: an example of understanding and mutual recognition,
an example of peace.
Vladimir Ivanoff
Born in
Bulgaria, Vladimir Ivanoff is a qualified musicologist and graduate of
the lute class at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis; he wishes to develop a
link between musical science and actual performance practice, while
revealing the threads connecting the Orient and the West and tightening
them. His dedication to early music does not ossify in awe for what has
been handed down. On the contrary, he breathes new life into the old,
with a conscious desire to integrate present-day experience into the
execution. He puts new spirit into the sometimes rather dry area of
early music without leaving the basis of musicological teaching.
MUSICOLOGY:
studies and doctorate in musicology in Munich - research projects in
Venice - post-doctoral project qualifications in Munich and Venice -
lectureships in musicology, ethnomusicology and historical performance
practice at various universities - lectures at symposia and conferences
in most European countries and the USA; several books published -
numerous contributions to musicology magazines and encyclopaedias.
MUSIC:
Studied the lute and historical performance practice at the
Musikhochschule Karlsruhe and the Basel Music Academy/Schola Cantorum
Basiliensis - percussion training with several traditional musicians -
musical director of the Sarband, Vox. L'Orient Imaginaire projects and
(together with choral director Johannes Rahe) Metamorphoses - concerts,
staged projects, radio, TV and CD recordings in Europe and the USA -
producer (including "Mystère des Voix Bulgares") and head of recording
for many CD recordings of early, traditional, electronic and pop music
(two Grammy Award nominations).
Recording: Jochen Scheffter, Dr. Vladimir lvanoff, Beirut, Istanbul, München, 1994
Post production: Friedrich Them, Dr. Vladimir Ivanoff, Bremen 1994
Musical producer: Dr. Vladimir Ivanoff
Designed by: Ariola/Petra Hirschfeld
Art director: Thomas Sassenbach
Photo and Illustration: White Star
Copyright 1996 BMG Music
All rights reserved