Az yashir Moshe (Song of the Sea; Exodus 15) (2 versions)

The Song of the Sea or Song of Moses, a section of the morning liturgy, is sung in Sephardic communities with special melodies on Sabbaths and Festivals. The present melody is the oldest and better documented one in the Sephardi repertoire, East and West. The myth that this is the very same melody that Moses sang appears in the writings of hazzan David Aaron de Sola, who transcribed this melody in the mid-19th century (see Aguilar-De Sola 1857, introduction).
In this CD, we hear two versions of the first three verses of this undoubtedly ancient melody. They will, we hope, provide an adequate idea of the melodic pattern that is repeated throughout this entire Biblical chapter with each verse. The first version (no. 11) is according to the Amsterdam traditions and the second one (no. 12) is according to the New York one. The minor, yet still noticeable differences between the versions will suffice to establish a clear distinction between the traditions. This melody is also applied to the hymn Bendigamos al altisimo ("Let us bless the Almighty"), one of the rare poems in Spanish that are still sung by the Western Sephardi Jews, most particularly by those from New York City (see Salomon 1969).