Society for Jewish Folk Music
Violins, Voice and Jews
In the spring of 1897, on the eve of the Russian Orthodox Easter, two Russian musicians met in an encounter that was to have impacts on classical and popular music to this day. Vladimir Stasov, music historian and promoter of the New Russian National School of “The…
The Jerusalem-Sephardic Tradition
This article shows the crystallization of the prayer and singing style known as “Jerusalem-Sephardic,” which originated among the Jewish communities scattered throughout the Ottoman Empire during the 16th to 20th centuries and developed under Turkish-Ottoman and Arabic musical influences.
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Contrafactum
A term borrowed from medieval Christianity. It refers to a technique of converting either a secular song into a religious song or vice versa by altering the words.
This technique was used in 12th century Spain, as poets and Paytanim would write above the first line of their poem a reference to a…
Cleaving tune (Niggun Dvekut)
The term Niggun Devekut, which probably is a Hebrew translation of the Yiddish expression 'A dveykes nign' or 'A Dveyke', and is found in contemporary sources and among Hebrew speaking Hassidim, literally refers to meditational tunes which 'function as means to help the Hassid enter into a…
Baqqashah (Pl. Baqqashot)
The Baqqashot (petition) is a religious practice maintained by several Jewish communities. It consists of gatherings that occur early on Sabbath morning, from 2-3 a.m. until the Shaharit prayer, in which the participants communally sing various piyyutim, which are titled Baqqashot. The practice…
The Israeli Mediterranean Style
*The following is a summary of an article by Ronit Seter, to read the full article.
The term Mediterranean style, as it has been used in Israel, originally referred to selected versions of European Mediterranean styles in art music that Jewish composers—the founders of Israeli music, among them the…
Yiddish Folksong (The Music of the Yiddish Folksong)
The Yiddish language, which probably began to develop around the tenth century A.D. in south Germany, was the main spoken language and language of oral creation of the Ashkenazi Jews of both Western and Eastern Europe, whereas in the latter region it was influenced by Slavic languages. Both the…
Fun der khupe (LKT)
This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that…
Bazetsh di kale (LKT)
This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that…
Freylekhs (LKT)
This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that…
Majafes (LKT)
This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that…
Kaddish
Kaddish is one of the most important and central parts of the Jewish liturgy. Most of it is in Aramaic, and it is used as a passage between various parts of the prayer, and at its end.
Originally, the Kaddish was not an integral part of the liturgy. The Talmud describes the Kadish as a finishing…