About the Jews of Yemen, A Vanishing Culture

This film, by renowned ethnomusicologist Johanna Spector, addresses the history and rituals of the Jews of Yemen, both in Yemen and in Israel. The music and songs of the Yemenite tradition are a main focal point throughout the film. In it there are scenes of praying, Heena ceremonies of both the husband and the bride (in both Yemen and Israel) the singing of songs from the diwan of Shalom Shabazi (the most important Jewish poet of Yemen from the 17^th century), drumming on improvised percussion instruments, festivities in honor of a birth, two different Passover Seders in Israel, and many other scenes of music, song and dance, both religious and secular.