celestial harmonies
p.o. box 30122 tucson, arizona 85751
+1 520 326 4400 fax +1 520 326 3333
BL
ACK O SUN
the sephardic experience
4-CD boxed set
the renaissance players
celestial harmonies 19911-2
UPC 0 1371 19911 2 3
file classification: world music (spanish-jewish)
the project
The Sephardic Experience quadrilogy, is a priceless sound document in which
the Renaissance Players present their own performance versions of well– and
lesser–known romansas (ballads), kantigas (religious songs) and muwashshahat
(poetical forms) which have survived for centuries entirely via oral/aural
transmission by parents, grandparents, friends and acquaintances within the family
circle, while working, or as a form of ad hoc entertainment in Sephardic communities
of the West and East. Sadly, as the end of the 20th century draws near we are
witnessing the alarming disappearance of Spanish–Jewish culture due to vast,
worldwide changes in social circumstances. In fact, these songs are no longer a part
of the rich, musical fabric of the everyday life of the Sephardim.
As was the case in the middle ages for many types of traditional music, the
lyrics of the Sephardic romansa, kantiga, muwashshah and zajal could be sung to a
newly composed melody or to a pre–existing melody from either secular or liturgical
repertoires. In traditional Sephardic singing one does not hear heavy and constant
vibrato or long–held notes which are not decorated. Furthermore, there is a firmly
blended fusion of Spanish–Arabic qualities both in the sound of the melodies and
the way they are treated in performance.
the artists
The Renaissance Players is the longest standing professional Early Music
ensemble in Australia. Founded in 1967 by Winsome Evans, the ensemble is
well–known for its varied and imaginative concert programs which are presented in
costume and enlivened by poetry, mime, dance and processions. They perform a wide
range of music dating from the 9th century through contemporary folk and classical
styles, using replicas of, and/or ethnically, authentic instruments where possible and
attempting to reproduce performance styles appropriate to whatever music is
played. The Renaissance Players have a library of over 2,500 pieces, which have all
been collected, arranged and/or composed by Winsome Evans.
Winsome Evans, Director of the Renaissance Players, is also the producer of
this series. Aside from the performance and dance schedule of the Renaissance
Players, Winsome teaches music at the University of Sydney and is one of Australia's
busiest harpsichordists. She has mastered an additional 25 wind, string, percussion
and keyboard instruments.
Members of The Renaissance Players performing on this recording include
Winsome Evans, Benedict Hames, Llew Kiek, Mara Kiek, Melissa Irwin, Mina
Kanaridis, Andrew Lambkin, Barbara Stackpool, and poetry reader Geoff Sirmai.
The main themes in this first volume,
Thorns of Fire, relate to the rose as a
symbol of love; with weddings and various
associated customs; with delightful,
ravishing Muslim girls; and with the
omnipresent force of the sea and the siren.
The Sephardic romansas and kantigas
featured in this volume are from sources in
Andalusia, Rhodes, Balkans, the Orient,
Bulgaria and Tetuan, and the dance songs
come from Macedonia, Andalusia and
Australia. Also featured is a single
declaimed Biblical text, linked by theme
and concept, accompanied by entirely
improvised, taksim–like instrumental
commentary.
This collection of Spanish-Jewish songs and
Mediterranean dance tunes in this second
volume, Apples and Honey, are named for
the joyful celebrations of Rosh Ha-Shanah,
the head of the year. The texts of the
muwashshah and kantigas evoke images of
the sea and the river (powerful forces for
the Sephardim in their post–expulsion
Mediterranean settlements) and water.
These are, in their turn, connected with
exile, the siren, the moon, and various
marriage customs. Various procedures
related to Arabic and Balkan music are
followed here: improvised instrumental
taksim-like preludes, interludes between
stanzas, repetition of the solo singer's line
by a chorus of voices and/or instruments,
lively, celebratory ululation by chorus
singers, a variety of chest- and head-voice
timbres, constant ornamentation of melodic
lines, measured and unmeasured metres,
and simple and complex additive rhythms.
Likewise, a wide variety of arrangement is
demonstrated.
The collection of Spanish–Jewish songs in
this third volume, Gazelle and Flea, include
satire, a panegyric addressed to a minstrel,
wedding songs, laments, coplas, kantigas,
and romansas. These are placed
cheek–by–jowl with traditional dances
from the Sephardim's host countries,
Bulgaria, South Yugoslavia and Macedonia.
The text covers themes of love from literal
and figurative references involving animals,
humans and insects (e.g. gazelle and flea)
to more direct faces of love—courtships
which are frustrated, sadly disappointed
and sea/siren connected, and weddings,
specifically the traditional marriage
preparations with their expectations of
nuptial bliss and love's frightful sufferings
in a cycle of destruction–famine–exile. The
songs and dances are performed with
improvised decoration as the melodies to
which these originally Hebrew texts were
sung are lost forever in the ancient folk-
memory.
The opening refrain of track 1 on this
fourth volume, Eggplants, declares that the
following copla will describe seven recipes
for stewing eggplants. The eggplant was a
staple of Ottoman cuisine which was
beloved by all, at every level of society from
the Sultan and his slaves to the Muslims,
Jews, Christians, and other inhabitants.
There are many references in this volume
to foodstuffs which were staples of the
Ottoman Sephardic diet—eggplants, olive
oil, rice, chicken, aromatics, rue, apple,
lemon, milk, cinnamon, coffee and sherbets.
In the menu of musical items, Macedonian
dances, instrumentalized and sung kantigas
and coplas, fragments of romansas and
kantigas, and bodas tell of Sabbath food,
tragic births in the royal palace, joyous,
wicked, seductive, rejected and spiritual
love, and mischievous, intoxicated,
boisterous pre– and post–nuptial hijinks.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Stelbishte oro
Por alli paso un cavallero
Como la rosa
Yo m’enamori d’un aire
La rosa enflorece
(i) Slušaj kaj šumaj šumite bukite
(ii) Tri pati
Noches buenas
Puncha, puncha la rosa huele
(i) Here is a poem
(ii) Return, O Shulammite
Morena me llaman
Staro oro
Ah, Signora novia
La madre de la novia
Total Time:
3’08”
4’30”
4’48”
4’52”
3’53”
4’23”
3’24”
5’47”
4’40”
4’49”
3’34”
3’08”
6’43”
57’56”
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Haralambis
La sirena
En la mar ay una torre
Cunja mija
Siete anos
Bandary
Morenica sos
Por la tu puerta
Yo Hanino
Para beri
La novia entre flores
Kopanitsa oro
Have you heard, my friends?
Durme, durme mi angelico
Total Time:
3’40”
4’20”
6’16”
4’26”
5’33”
2’03”
4’19”
5’42”
2’33”
2’38”
3’55”
2’57”
4’04”
4’21”
56’52”
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Cetvorno oro
El rey de Francia tres hijas tenia
Rychenitsa
Por amar una donzella
Ajugar de novia galana
Staro povrateno
Y una madre comio asado
El conde niño
Cetvorka
Hija mia mi querida
Y aunque yo no vendi nada
Play for me minstrel
Desde hoy la mi madre
Pravo za ramo
Fleas
Estavase la mora
Dvajspetorka
(i) Dunje rajke kruske kara manke
(ii) Kyustendilka
Total Time:
1’32”
7’58”
1’26”
4’26”
3’03”
2’55”
4’29”
3’43”
1’14”
5’05”
2’55”
3’16”
2’08”
3’58”
1’30”
2’49”
3’02”
2’35”
58’11”
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Los guisados de la berenjena
Dunula
Potrculka
La sclava pario un hijo
Dolores tiene la reina
Teškoto
Si la mar era de leche
Una matica de ruda
Esta montaña d’efrente
Salgas madre
Potrceno
Poco le das la mi consuegra
Ay, el novio no quiere dinero
El mi querido
Total Time:
5’32”
4’34”
4’09”
3’59”
5’26”
3’24”
6’40”
5’34”
4’03”
5’10”
3’05”
8’35”
4’58”
4’35”
73’58”