Judith Cohen | York University (original) (raw)

Papers by Judith Cohen

MUSICultures, Jun 1, 1998

Canadian Woman Studies, Sep 1, 1996

Lbutnrrc hoquc &S souvenin dr son amic, une fmmc scpharadr dr la Bosnic qui a VCEU &m unc rismc M... more Lbutnrrc hoquc &S souvenin dr son amic, une fmmc scpharadr dr la Bosnic qui a VCEU &m unc rismc Mohawk du Quibccpmdantplus dr m t r am.

Trans : Transcultural Music Review = Revista Transcultural de Música, 2010

MUSICultures, Jun 1, 1982

This paper is an overview of my current research on the survival o f the Judeo-Spanish traditiona... more This paper is an overview of my current research on the survival o f the Judeo-Spanish traditional song among Sephardic communi ties in M ontreal and Toronto. It is only recently that serious re search on Canadian Sephardic communities has begun, and little of this work directly concerns music.1 For this reason, my first (and present) task has been to contact and interview members of the community and to collect songs-as well as other aspects of oral history, where possible. Detailed analysis of the song corpus will constitute a later stage of this project. * A d a p te d fro m a p a p e r given a t th e F o lk lo re S tu d ie s A s s o c ia tio n o f C a n a d a m e e tin g in O tta w a , J u n e 1982.

This solid two-volume set offers a welcome and long-overdue collection of essays on various aspec... more This solid two-volume set offers a welcome and long-overdue collection of essays on various aspects of literatura de cordel and almost 500 pages of facsimiles from the pliegos collection of the Imprenta Hernando housed at the CSIC in Madrid.1 The chapbooks contain stories, sketches and songs on themes ranging from the pious through the melodramatic and the satirical. Luis Díaz Viana’s introduction provides a substantial overview of literatura de cordel and the history of attitudes toward and studies of the genre. He recalls Julio Caro Baroja’s characterization of it as a “infierno literario ” and discusses the juglar as a kind of “amphibion ” navigating between different registers of culture (I: 34). Díaz Viana goes on to resume and further develop themes at once related to chapbooks and broadsides, and, in a broader application, central to his thinking over the years, particularly challenging the concepts of the “traditional ” and the “popular”, and the very existence of “tradition...

This volume, in Spanish, is another welcome example of Weich-Shahak's continuing work documenting... more This volume, in Spanish, is another welcome example of Weich-Shahak's continuing work documenting, disseminating and providing accurate information about Judeo-Spanish song. Over eighty Moroccan Judeo-Spanish romances are fully transcribed (text and music) and annotated, with both textual and musical variants indicated. The selections are taken from Weich-Shahak's 1976-1994 fieldwork in Israel, deposited at the National Sound Archives (NSA) of the Jewish National and University Library at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; each item is identified with its NSA catalogue number. When Dr Weich-Shahak says "brief" ("breve"), she means it-for example, the history of Moroccan Sephardim is covered in under two pages. While it is refreshing to read a scholarly work which says what it means to say and then goes on to the next point or finishes, sometimes Weich-Shahak can be a little too concise, and a little more information and analysis would be welcome. A tantalizing brevity is a characteristic of the background notes altogether, including Díaz-Más' expert but very short introductory observations. But after all, this volume is subtitled "antología", not "estudio", so the notes can be taken as knowledgeable prologomena. The interested reader should read Weich-Shahak's earlier, and also later, work, covering various aspects of repertoire, social function, and musical analysis, as well as her documentary recordings (Weich-Shahak in "references", below; also Etzion and Weich-Shahak). In any case, Weich-Shahak certainly packs considerable solid information into relatively short texts; the section on melodic structure, for example, are particularly instructive. The text and music transcriptions are carried out and presented with the care and attention to detail which characterizes Weich-Shahak's work, and Díaz-Más' background notes on the texts are, as always, informative. The text transcriptions follow the CSIC system, and are explained clearly, though perhaps a table would be helpful for quick reference. The song transcriptions are well-laid out and easy to read. The incipit/title table at the end (191-202) is useful but appears to have been taken directly from a computer print-out and is not only difficult to read, its headings are actually in English: "theme", "incipit", "place", "code", "no." (number). There are very few typographical errors (e.g. "incuye" for "incluye", p. 27). Regrettably, as over the past several years Hispanists have finally been giving it its deserved serious attention, literatura de cordel has been excluded (except for one ballad; see p.14). The author does list the titles she has recorded, and explains that they are omitted from the anthology only because of the lengthy texts and the differences in structure, not because of value judgments. Still, including at least the melody and a couple of sample strophes, and a sample concordance (a full one would be too extensive) would be helpful, including for comparative ethnomusicological and textual purposes. On the other hand, we find

El pueblo de Ribadavia, en Galicia, lleva 9 anos presentando la "Festa da Istoria". Se ... more El pueblo de Ribadavia, en Galicia, lleva 9 anos presentando la "Festa da Istoria". Se trata de una re-invencion moderna, basada en un acontecimiento que tuvo lugar en este pueblo, probablememte desarrollado por descendientes de judios conversos durante los siglos 16-19. Aqui se examinan algunos cambios realizados por los cantantes, en el repertorio seleccionado por los organizadores de esta recreacion, y posteriormente, la recepcion equivoca de la Festa como real supervivencia de la vida judia en la Espana medieval - cuestion esta nunca planteada por los organizadores. Posteriormente, se examinan cuestiones relativas a la apropiacion cultural junto a la posibilidad de que no se trate tanto de una "apropiacion" cuanto, de una "re-apropiacion", si es que tal fenomeno puede existir.

Page 1. 1 By Judith Cohen Following Alan Lomax's Footsteps in Spain ... the professor who ra... more Page 1. 1 By Judith Cohen Following Alan Lomax's Footsteps in Spain ... the professor who ran the conference [Marius SchneiderJ ... was a refugee Nazi, who had taken over the Berlin folk song archive after Hitler had removed its Jewish chief. .. ...

This monumental, hefty volume is the work of someone who passionately loves musical tradition, an... more This monumental, hefty volume is the work of someone who passionately loves musical tradition, and believes in documenting and disseminating it; it is hard to believe that the author's full-time "official" profession has nothing to do with music or ethnography. The focus on Estremadura is an unusual and welcome one: while there is always more work to be done on Trás-os-Montes, the Beiras and other regions of mainland Portugal, little attention has been paid to Estremadura. Clearly, the author wanted to get "everything" in, and the result is a multi-faceted picture of musical traditions in this province, a book to return to often, to read, to look at, and CD's to listen to for pleasure and for study. The songs and pieces discussed in the book are divided into three main chapters: (1) work of various sorts, especially agricultural but also street cries and lullabies, and the romances; (2) the religious and ritual repertoire, including Carnival; and (3) love and recreation, including dance music, and instruments. There is a thoughtful prologue by the eminent Lopes Graça, followed by an introduction, which includes methodology and quite detailed musico-historicoethnographic notes on Estremadura. Useful appendices are the musical transcriptions, mostly corresponding to the items on the CD's: texts of romances and prayers; glossary and local terminology; a guide to the three CD's; indices, and a bibliography. The music is discussed in its daily life contexts, explaining the latter in some detail. Among the interesting discussions is a section on popular dance in Lisbon, and respectful attention is given to the wandering balladmongers, to whom scholars are finally paying more of the attention they deserve. More could be explained about why the romances come under work songs, and the remark that the music of the romances has been given far less scholarly attention than the words is valid indeed, but the deep study the author calls for (pp.110-111) does not really take place here. The book includes a wealth of illustrations: colour photos taken by the author, old black and white photos, splendid post cards from the early 20 th century, 17 th century engravings, and more. Together,they attest to the indissoluble association of music with daily life: agricultural tasks, religious and ritual events.The layout makes full use of page space but avoids being cluttered. Full song texts are provided in smaller print and musical transcriptions are at the back; though one could argue for including them with the discussions which

Revista De Dialectologia Y Tradiciones Populares, Dec 30, 1999

Over the past decades, a phenomenon of «discovering» hidden Jewish communities in Spain and Portu... more Over the past decades, a phenomenon of «discovering» hidden Jewish communities in Spain and Portugal has developed, leading to functioning Jewish communities in some cases, and festivals promoting imagined Jewish communities in others. In some cases, there is an overiap between these developments, so that actual religious services, with their music, become part of a tourist-office supported festival. This paper will touch on some wider issues of authenticity and the anthropology of tourism, but will focus on the use of music as an identity marker in these activities. Different origins of the music will be examined: it may be a defining aspect of the culture, and/or it may be shared with other regional groups; or it may be adopted from outside, whether actively sought out or received with little or no initiative on the group's part. In 1492, the Jews were expelled from the kingdoms of León and Castile, in 1497 from Portugal, and in 1498 from Navarra, leaving no Jews on the Iberian Península-officially. The Jews we now know as Sephardim migrated to the ex-Ottoman Empire and north África, eventually to the Americas too; many, especially from Portugal, settled in Amsterdam. Those who chose to stay in Spain and Portugal had to convert to Catholicism, whether voluntarily, semi-voluntarily or by forced baptism. Of these, a ' This is adapted from a conference presentation, for the Canadian Society for Traditional Music; the presentation included video excerpts, and sample symbolic objects from the various events discussed. The research has been sponsored

Yearbook for Traditional Music, 2001