Be-zokhri 'al mishkavi (Vezouhri)

A seliḥah by Rabbi Yehudah Ibn Bal'am (Al-Andalus, eleventh century). Haim sings the first two stanzas of the poem (repeating the first one at the end), from the slightly corrupted version printed in Sephardi maḥzorim (High Holidays prayer books). This metered melody in makam Uşak has an interesting rhythmic structure of 15/4 (sometimes 16/4) per phrase. The musical structure of the opening stanza is aabA and of the second one aaabA whereas A is the refrain. This strophic musical structure is found in other seliḥot based on similar poetical forms (e.g. Yeẓav ha-El, CD 2, no. 12).