Hashkivenu

Singing Hashkivenu with a distinctive melody in the Friday night service is characteristic of the North African traditions and possibly influenced its singing in the Amsterdam tradition. New melodies for this text were created by composers associated with the community in Amsterdam. The present, elaborated piece is an original composition by hazzan Simon Duque. Duque was elected to the post of hazzan in Amsterdam in 1923 and perished in the Holocaust. The entire melody is repeated twice. According to Rev. Lopes Cardozo, in Amsterdam the hazzan performed this piece with the children's choir. In the present recording, the melody is sung in flexible rhythm; originally, however, it may have had a clear beat.