A groundbreaking literary anthology reveals the nature and history of a lesser-known but vital branch of Jewish culture.

In the years following the founding of the State of Israel, close to a million Jews became refugees fleeing their ancestral homelands in the Middle East, North Africa, and Iran. State-sanctioned discrimination, violence, and political unrest brought an abrupt end to these once vibrant communities, scattering their members to the four corners of the earth. Their stories are mostly untold. Sephardi Voices: The Forgotten Exodus of the Arab Jews is a window into the experiences of these communities and their stories of survival. Through gripping first-hand accounts and stunning portrait and documentary photography, we hear on-the-ground stories of pogroms in Libya and Egypt, the burning of synagogues in Syria, the terrible Farhud in Iraq, families escaping via the great airlifts of the Magic Carpet and Operations Ezra and Nehemiah, husbands smuggled in carpets into Iran in search of wives. The authors also provide crucial historical background for these events, as well as updates on the lives of some of these Sephardi Jews who have gone on to rebuild fortunes in London and New York, write novels, and win Nobel Prizes. Sephardi Voices is at once a wide-ranging and intimate story of a large-scale catastrophe and a portrait of the vulnerability of the passage of time.

"Chosen Voices is the definitive survey of an often overlooked aspect of American Jewish history and ethnomusicology, and an insider's look at a profession that is also a vocation.Week after week, year after year, Jews turn to sacred singers for spiritual and emotional support. The job of the hazzan--much more than the traditional ""messenger to God""--is deeply embedded in cultural, social, and religious symbolism, negotiated between the congregation and its chosen voices. Drawing on archival sources, interviews with cantors, and photographs, Slobin traces the development of the American cantorate from the nebulous beginnings of the hazzan as a recognizable figure through the heyday of the superstar sacred singer in the early twentieth century to a diverse portrait of today's cantorate, which now includes women as well as men. Slobin's focus on the current nature of the profession includes careful consideration of the sacred singer's part in creating and maintaining the worship service, the recent relationship between the rabbi and the hazzan within the synagogue, and the music that contemporary cantors sing. This first paperback edition features a new preface by the author. A thirty-five-minute cassette for use with Chosen Voices is available separately from the University of Illinois Press."

Chapter 5 - Folklore of the Sephardim. The various themes of Sephardic songs and poetry include the celebration of romance, the joys of newborn babies and birth, and the observance of Jewish traditions and rituals. Spanish ballads were adapted by the Sephardic musicians and adapted to fit the new environments to which they were exiled. Different Sephardic singers and musicians perform in a variety of styles to illustrated the ideas which are expressed in this chapter. Chapter 6 - The Dispersion of Spanish Jews in the 20th Century. Large numbers of Sephardic Jews migrated to Western Europe and America in the early part of the 20th century. Some of these Sephardic communities have thrived in these new surroundings while others have declined. Sephardic songs performed in Paris, New York and other locations h.

Publisher Description

This is a collection of nine familiar Sephardic folk songs, most dating to the 16th century or earlier, both religious and secular in nature, in attractive arrangements for voice with pedal or lever harp accompaniments of moderate difficulty. Texts are in Ladino, with translations provided. Arranged by a well-known arranger/transcriber, Nine Sephardic Songs is perfect for those preparing voice and harp programs and fills a specific niche in available harp music.

Auerbach (history, Wellesley College), a third-generation American Jew, reflects on his own upbringing and his conversion experience in Israel which transformed him from a left-leaning American Jewish academic to an exponent of right-wing Zionism. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR