Intersections of Judaism and Islam in Music: The Ottoman Hebrew Encounter

1. Intersections of Judaism and Islam in Music:The Ottoman Hebrew Encounter Prof. Edwin Seroussi Moscow - Eshkolot December 1-5, 2011

2. Main Issues • Interfaith relations and the arts • History of Islam and of Jews under Islam • Music in the Lands of Islam

3. History of Islam • Revelation (610-620) and Hijra (622, beginning of Islamic calendar) • Rise of the Caliphate and civil war (632–750) • Golden Age of the Caliphate (750–1258) • Crusades (recovery of Jerusalem, 1187), Mongol invasion (fall of Baghdad, 1258), Ottoman supremacy (fall of Constantinople, 1453), Reconquista (fall of Granada, 1492)

4. History of Islam • Ottoman Empire supremacy (1400-early 1900s) • European Colonialism (from Napoleonic expeditions, ca. 1800) • Modernity, Nation-States and Islamic-States (from the fall of Ottoman Empire, 1918-)

5. Islamic doctrine towards other religions • Islam is the primordial religion of mankind, already professed by Adam. • Religious split occurred, and God began sending prophets to bring his revelations. • Abraham, Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus were all Prophets of Islam. • Their messages were corrupted by Jews and Christians. Prophet Muhammad restored true prophecy. • Every child is born a Muslim, but is converted to some other faith if the parents/guardians are not Muslims.

6. Islamic doctrine towards other religions (2) • Christians and Jews who live under Islamic rule (dar al-Islam) are known as dhimmis ("protected peoples"). Their personal safety and security of property is guaranteed in return for paying tribute (jizya) to the Islamic state. • Those who live in non-Muslim lands (dar al-harb) are known as harbis; upon entering into alliance with Islam become known as ahl al-ahd. Those who receive a guarantee of safety while residing temporarily in Muslim lands are known as ahl al-amān. Their legal position is similar to the dhimmi but they do not pay jizya. Ahl al-hudna (People of armistice) are those who live outside of Muslim territory agreeing to refrain from attacking Islam. • Apostasy from Islam is prohibited, and is punishable by death.

7. Islamic denominations • Sunni • Shi’a • Sufism

13. Ottoman Empire (1580)

14. Principles of Music • Pitch • Duration • Hierarchy • Dynamics • Timbre • Form • Pattern Repetition

15. Duration Organization in Music • Presence or absence of beat • Rhythm • Accentuation and Meter • Tempo • Rhythmic patterns

16. Some Principles of Form in Music • Cyclical vs. through-composed • Theme and variations • Ornamentation • Symmetry vs. asymmetry • Sequence

17. Principles of Eastern Music • All music in unison, no harmony • Music with and without fixed beat • Open (improvised) and fixed forms • Cyclical rhythmic patterns • Small ensembles • Urban vs. rural music genres and instruments • makam principle

18. Musical Instruments Tanbur – Long Neck Lute Ud’ – Lute Kanun - Zither Ney – Flute Kemanja - Violin Kudum - Drum

19. Tanbur

20. ‘Ud

21. Kanun

22. Kemanca

23. Ney

24. Kudum

25. NecdetYaşar Ensemble http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MsqBo0wJb4Turkish Ottoman Classical Music Ensemble - HuzzamFasil - YouTube.flv

26. Makamprinciple • Basic Scale • Tetrachords (set of four consecutive pitches) • Pitch hierarchy (gravitation, recitation and ornamental pitches) • Traditional melodic formulae • Modulations (moving from one makam to another)

27. Basic forms of Turkish Music • Vocal vs. Instrumental • Improvisation vs. Fixed • Suites (Fasil, Ayin, etc) • Dance tunes

28. Improvisatory forms of Turkish Music • Taksim: Instrumental Improvisation that develops the makam • Ghazzel: Vocal improvisation, similamTaksim

29. Fixed Forms of Turkish Music • Cyclical Ottoman forms • Sama’i (Rondo form, ABACADA) in 10/8 • Peşrev (Rondo form but heavier and more modulatory) • Sharki: Popular song form (Strophe and Refrain)

30. Ottoman Jewish communities in Arabic Speaking Areas • Yemen (San’a, Habban) • Iraq (Baghdad, Kurdistan, Mumbay) • Syria (Damascus, Aleppo) and Lebanon • Egypt (Cairo)

31. Ottoman Jewish communities in Arabic Speaking Areas in the Maghreb • Eastern Algeria • Tunisia • Lybia

32. Ladino-Speaking Sephardic Communities in Ottoman Empire • Greece (Saloniki) • Turkey (Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa) • Palestine (Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, Tiberias)

33. Contexts of Musical Performance • Religious • Non-religious

34. Islamic Attitudes to MusicOn the basis of the table in Al Faruqi 1985, p. 8 • Halal (Legitimate) • Controversial • Haram (Illegitimate)

35. Maimonides’ Restrictions on Listening to Music • Listening to foolishness (of the mouth) • And thus, listening to singing (of foolishness) • Accompanied with (string) instruments • In a place where wine is consumed • Performed by a woman

36. Religious Contexts of Musical Performance in Jewish Communities • Synagogue liturgy • Paraliturgical events • Life cycle events

37. Synagogue Liturgy • Daily (three times a day) • Sabbaths and Holidays (four times) • Day of Atonement (five times) • Texts: Biblical, post-Biblical, poetry (piyyut) • Vocal performance by quorum of male adults • Performers: Cantor (sheliah tzibbur, hazzan), Torah readers, Congregation

38. Chanting of Sacred Texts: The Torah (Hebrew Bible) • Cantillation performed on the basis of masoretic accents (ta’amei ha-miqrah). Accents carry syntactical, accentual, melodic and at times hermeneutic content. • Duty of performance by every adult Jewish male (in traditional Jewish societies). • In fact, a trained reader (ba’al qoreh) performs on behalf of the congregation members.

39. Paraliturgical events • Mystic background • Theurgical intentions • Bakkashot /Maftirim (Early Morning Vigils)

40. Life cycle celebrations • Circumcision • Bar/Bat Mitzvah (initiation) • Wedding • Funeral

41. Types of liturgical and paraliturgical texts • Prose (e.g. verses of the Bible, passages from the Talmud [Jewish “Oral” Law], post-biblical prayers) • Poetry, called piyyut (derived from the Greek word poesis, similar to the English word poetry), in plural piyyutim.

42. Types of Hebrew piyyutimshared with Near Eastern poetical genres (Arabic, Persian, Turkish) • Qasida, ancient and simple type of poetry. Each “line” in the poem is called bayt, and it is divided in two equal sections (hemistiches) called “door” and “close”. All lines share the same rhyme at the end of the verses, thus: aaaaaa, etc. • Two important types of strophic poetry: zajal and muwashshah. Unlike the qasida, in these two types the rhymes change in each strophe.

43. Strophic patterns of Hebrew piyyutim • Zajal: a popular type that usually consists of quatrains (strophes of four lines each) with the rhyme scheme aaaA, bbbA, cccA, etc. • Muwashshah: Most complex and sophisticated poetic pattern. The most common rhyme scheme in this type is: AA bbbaA, cccaA, dddaA, etc.

44. Musical performances of Hebrew piyyutim • Within the traditional liturgy, they are performed mostly with traditional melodies • In paraliturgical events, such as Bakkashot, we find a Petiha (lit. opening), i.e. a fragment of a song or a couple of verses from the Bible (especially Psalms) sung in an improvised form without clear beat followed by a strophic song with clear beat and cyclic form, in the pattern of the Near Eastern urban songs. • Suites or chains of different piyyutim are also found.

45. Makam-based traditions of piyyutimstill being practiced in modern times • Jerusalem-Sephardic (Bakkashot) • Syrian-Aleppo (Bakkashot) • Turkish (Maftirim) • Moroccan-Andalusian (Bakkashot)

46. Makam-based traditions of Hebrew piyyutim: Ottoman/Turkish • Related to courtly and Sufi Ottoman traditions • Appears in liturgical and paraliturgical contexts • Makam principle rules pitch hierarchy and melodic contour • Usul rules rhythmic structure

47. Ottoman/Turkish Makam-based forms • Cycles (“suites”) of compositions: Fasil (courtly cycle) and Ayin (Mevlevi cycle) • Instrumental forms in the courtly cycles: Taqsim, Peşrev, Saz semaîsi (10/8), Yürük semaî (6/8) • Vocal forms in the courtly cycles: Beste, nakş, şarki • Religious vocal forms: Nefes (Bektaşi order), Ilahi

48. Ottoman/Turkish Hebrew tradition • Maftirim, an association of Jewish singers, poets and composers of Hebrew sacred songs • Main centers: Edirne, Istanbul, Izmir, Saloniki • Performances in synagogues and private homes on Sabbath’s morning or afternoon • Compositions arranged according to Ottoman fasil, each Sabbath in a different makam

49. Ottoman Hebrew Manuscript

50. Page from Shirei Israel Be-Eretz Ha-Qedem, Istanbul 1925, first printed collection of Ottoman Hebrew Poetry.