the bards of the bible

7/27/2019 The Bards of the Bible

1/11

Akadmiai Kiadis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Studia Musicologica Academiae

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The Bards of the BibleAuthor(s): Edith Gerson-KiwiSource: Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, T. 7, Fasc. 1/4, The PresentVolume Contains the Papers Read at the International Folk Music Council (IFMC) Conference

Held in Budapest in August 1964 (1965), pp. 61-70Published by: Akadmiai KiadStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/901412Accessed: 11-08-2014 10:11 UTC

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2/11

The

Bards of

the Bible

by

EDITH

GERSON-KIwI

Jerusalem

The

interplay

of

ethnic and historical

styles

of

music is often

mani-

fest in two opposite directions: 1) folk music serving as source materials

for the

period

styles

of

art

music,

and

vice-versa,

2)

art

music

being

absorbed

by

folk music idioms.

This

latter

process,

though

well-known

in

principle,

seems to

have been

much less

explored

than the

former.

Here,

some

new material

may

be

provided

for

the

old

idea

of

transforma-

tion of the

historical

forms

of

music into

lore.

The

cantillation

of

the

Hebrew

Bible

is

a

striking

example.

Strictly

speaking,

the

reading

of

the

Holy

Script

according

to the

intricate

system

of

written

symbols,

or

neumatic

accents,

is

anything

but

folk-song:

it

is

an art

of

historical

growth

which necessitates an

educated,

even

learned

type

of

singer-reader,

i. e.

the

professional

cantor or

Hazzan.

Accordingly,

we should

explore

anew as

to

whether

the

liturgies

of the

East

should

be

classified

under the

heading

of

folk music

at

all,

belong-

ing,

as

they

do,

to

the class of

intellectual

music,

musique

savante.

That

they

are

a

class

in

themselves becomes

obvious

if

we

confront

them

with the

genuine

musical

folklore of the

Old

Testament,

in

particular

with

the

story-telling,

the

folk

epics,

ballads,

or the

popular

commentaries

on certain chapters or personalities of the Bible, as well as the mystery

-

or

miracle

-

plays

which in

Jewish

tradition

developed

mainly

around

the

Scroll of

Esther

and the

stories of

the

Pentateuch. These

manifesta-

tions

are

creative

musical lore

and,

as

regards

their

melody,

language

and

performance,

rather

different

from the

liturgical reading

of

the

Bible

which,

with

its

system

of

ecphonetic

accents,

belongs

to the

applied

form of a

musical

science.

Even

so,

the

auditive

impression

of

a

liturgical

Bible

cantillation

-

especially

when

performed by

Oriental

cantors

from

Yemen, Iran,

Iraq

or

Kurdestan

-

seems to

be so

near

to

the

accepted

character of

a

folk

epic

that

CURT

SACHS1

classes

them

side

by

side

with

the

national

'

SACHS, C.:

The

Wellsprings

of Music,

The

Hague

1962,

p.

78.

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)

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3/11

62

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The Bards

of

the Bible

epics

of

Georgia,

Finland

and the Balkans.

Common

to both of

them

indeed

is

the

principle

of a

syntactical speech-melody framing

the

single

stanzas or sentences of a narrative - often freely built and in countless

numbers

-

into

closed units.

Yet

the

liturgical

reading

of

the

Biblical

chapters strictly

followed

the canonical

text

with

its

written

tone

symbols

and could never

act as

a

substitute

for the

spontaneous

rendering

of

a

national

epic,

or heroic

ballad,

neither could

these latter forms

develop

amidst

a

people

in

exile

for

nearly

two

thousand

years.

Thus,

its heroes

were

immortalized

in

those

mythical

figures

of the

Old

Testament

while

their life stories

caught

the

fancy

of

story-tellers

in

many ways.

To

present

the

holy

text to the folk outside

the

Service,

it was

necessary

to

redress the

texts

and

re-tell them in

the

fashion

of

a

bard.

This

process

started

in ancient

times,

parallel

with

the

formation

of

the Biblical

books,

and

probably

even

before

their

final

compilation.

Twice,

the

Bible mentions

the title

of

a

book of

(heroic)

songs

which

has been

lost,

the Book of the

Righteous

( upright

)which

in

Hebrew

could

also

be read

as The

Book of

Song ,

i.e.

Sefer haYashar

(or

haShir

-

as

translated

in

the

Septuagint).

As both

quotations

sug-

gest,2 this lost book was probably a collection of heroic songs. It was from

this

collection that

a

small book of Biblical

folk

tales,

a

pseudo-epigraphic

Midrash

work

of the twelfth

century (Italy)

derived its

name. This

booklet

has been

widely spread

and translated

into various

vernacular

languages

and

has

long

since

become

a

main

source

for the

oral

composi-

tion

of

Biblical

epics.

Strangely enough,

this

Hebrew

folk

literature,

together

with

its

store

of

melodies,

remained unnoted

by

musical

science,

until

recent

times.

Due, probably,

to the

preponderance

of

liturgical

music,

this

second

tradition

shadowing

the

official one

nearly

escaped

the view

of

our

musicologists.

While

some

pioneering

work

has been done

on the

literary

texts

of

Oriental-Jewish

balladry, especially

in the

Sephardic,

Kurdish

and

Yemenite

communities,3

very

little has been

published

of

the

ballad

music

and

the

epic

recitative.

We

venture to

present

in

the

following

some

first

examples

of the

musical

rendering

of Biblical

epics

from

three sources

of

Oriental-Jewish

2

Ref.

Joshua

10,

13

( And

the sun stood still ...

Is

not

this written

in

the book

of

Jasher? );

2

Sam.

1,

18: David's

Lament on

Saul

and

Jonathan.

3

Ref.

AVENARY,

H.: Etudes

sur

le

Cancionero

judeo-espagnol,

Sepharad

vol.

20,

1960;

GERSON-KIwI,

E.:

On

the

Musical Sources

of

the

Judaeo-Hispanic

Romance,

Musical

Quarterly ,

vol.

50,

1964.

For musical

examples

of

Biblical

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)




4/11

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The

Bards

of

the Bible

63

balladry

which

have

hitherto

gone

unnoticed

as

regards

their

melodic

structure:

a) a 'ballad' from the Pinhas-Elias' legend in the Iraqi tradition at

Bagdad;

b)

a

'romance' from the

Joseph's

legend

in the Turkish

(Oriental-

Sephardic)

tradition

at

Magnesia

(Manisa),

Asia

Minor;

c)

an

'epic

narrative'

from the

Joseph's

legend

in

the

Kurdish tradi-

tion at

Sakho

(near

Niniveh

and

Mosul).4

As the

different names of

ballad,

romance and

epic

narrative

suggest,

there are

several

types

and

degrees

of

story-telling

current,

from

the

written

and

rhymed

type

of

ballad

to the

orally preserved

stanza

form

of

the

medieval

Spanish

romances of

chivalry,

and

culminating

in

the

truly

genuine

epic

narratives,

as

performed

by

the

Kurdish

bards,

with

their

rhapsodic

recitations

of

more

complex

stanzas

without

definite

length

and

metre.

Common

to all of

them is the

use of

folk

languages

instead

of

the

original

Hebrew

text of

the

Old

Testament

which

each of

the three

infor-

mants,

being

also

cantors,

know

by

heart

perfectly

well.

Naturally,

the

textus

acceptus

is

not

simply

translated

but

freely adapted

and

paraphrased in the light of the diverse vernacular idioms which in our

case are:

a)

an

Iraqi

Arabic-Jewish

dialect,

b)

the

Ladino-Castilian

home

language

of

Spanish

Jews

stemming

from

pre-Columbian

days,

and

c)

the

Aramaean

tongue

of

the

Kurdestan

communities,

one

of

the

precious

linguistic

survivals from

pre-Christian

times

(Second

Temple).

We have

to

bear in

mind

that

these

story-tellers

are

also

acting

as

cantors

and

Bible

readers,

as

every

man

in an Oriental

community

is

supposed

to

be

able

to

do.

Hence

their

melodic

imagination

is

deeply

rooted

in

the

cantillation

style

with its

store

of

melodic formulas as

framed

by

local

usage.

This has

become

their

second

nature,

transparent

in

any attempt

at musical

self-expression,

and

it

is

only

natural that

they

are

unconsciously

inclined

to

adapt

the

ready-made

patterns

of Bible

cantillation

to

the

tunes

of the

folk

epics.

Here,

several

ranges

of

melodic

adaptation

can be

discerned,

starting

with

the

complete

departure

from

epics

see:

PALACIN,

DE

LARREA,

A.:

Cancionero

Judio

del

Norte de

Marruecos,

Madrid

1952

ff.,

vol.

1

Nos

21-25;

vol.

3

No. 107.

For

Kurdestan

songs:

RIVLIN,

J.: The Song of Aramaean-speaking Jews, Jerusalem 1959 (texts only). For Yemenite

songs:

GERSON-KIWI,

E.: The

Musical

Structure

of

Yemenite

Women

Songs,

Curt

Sachs Memorial

Volume ,

New

York

1964.

4

The

recordings

and

transcriptions

played

were made

by

the author

at

the

Jerusalem

Archives of

Oriental and

Jewish

Music,

from

immigrants

from the

above

countries.

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)




5/11

64

E. Gerson-Kiwi:

The Bards

of

the

Bible

the Biblical model

to

the

preservation

only

of the

modal

outlines,

and

finally

to a

more

detailed

contrafactura

of the

melodic formulas

and

their exchangeable groupings.

In order to

provide

some

comparative

material

for a

possible

motivic

connection

between

the

religious

chant

and

the

singing

of the secular

epics,

each

of

the

three

examples

which follow

will be

preceded by

a

litur-

gical

cantillation taken

from

a

corresponding

chapter

of the

Old

Testa-

ment.

Thus,

the

musical

examples

will

be

given

in three

pairs.

The first

stems from

the

Babylonian

tradition

of

Bagdad.

It is

taken

from

Numbers

25,

7--12

and

centres around

the

person

of

Pinhas,

the

grandson

of

Aaron,

after he

had saved

the children of

Israel

from

the

plague

and was

chosen

by

the Lord

as the

representative

of

the eternal

covenant

between

Him and

His

people.

Thereafter,

in

Jewish

folk

belief,

Pinhas was identified

with

the

prophet

Elias,

the

mythical

being

symbo-

lizing

eternal

life,

acting

as

the announcer

of

the

Messias. In

accordance

with

this

belief,

the

beginning

of

every

new

week,

on

Saturday

night,

after

sundown,

is devoted

to the

double-being

of Pinhas-Elias

with

prayers,

hymns,

and

also

with

ballads

in

the vernacular Arabic

language.

Here

is first

the cantillation from Num.

25,

7-12

(Iraq):

Ex.1.

Hebrew

Bible

Cantillation from

Bagdad-Iraq:

Num.

25:7.

Rec.:

E.G.-Kiwi

J=ca

132*1

:

3

533 0

Wa-yar

Pin

-

has

ben

El

-

a

-

zar,

hen A - ha - ron ha-Co -hen wa - ya -

kam

mi - toch ha - e - dah

wa

-

yi

- kah ro

-

mah/

b'-

ya-dI

This

is

followed

by

a

folk ballad

of the same

content,

with

rhymed

verses

and

a

refrain:

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)




6/11

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The

Bards

of

the Bible

65

Ex.2.

Poetical

Narrative

on

Pinhas,

acc.

to

the

Biblical

Chapter

Num.25

(see

ex.

1.)

Babylonian

tradition

,-p

1

,

--'

/

Fine

Ha-bib

al

-lah

E

-

ii

-

ya

-

hu,

'a

-

ziz'and'al-lah

E-

Ii

-

ya-

hu

Pin-

has

ib-n'E-

la-zar

is

-

sa

-

mah

ye

-

red

a

ghla-zab

mill

an

el- u

-

mIa.

Ka

-

tal

kis

-

hi-

-

-

wa

zam

-

ri

-

ra

-

mah

wa-

. ..

.

'

,

ta

Capo

.

i-te

ghar 'al -

la

es -

sem

rahb-ha-

u.

This second

example

is a

simple

metrical

song

scheme

in

the

reprise-bar

form

with its

graceful

ouvert-clos

cadenzas

of the

stollen

(R

::

/

al-a2 :

/

a-a2-b-a2

//

).

Confronting

the tonal structure

of

this

folk tune with the preceding cantillation, it becomes obvious that the

cantillation

served

as

its

model. Both

of

them

employ

the same

modal

outline of

the

Maqam

group

of

Rast-Seka.

The second

pair

of

examples originating

in the tradition

of

Turkish

Jews,

is taken from the

story

of

Joseph.

First,

we have

again

the

litur-

gical

cantillation chosen from

Genesis

39,

1

where we are

told

how

Joseph

was

brought

to

Egypt

and

sold

to

Potiphar,

an officer of the

Pharaoh.

Ex.3.

Hebrew

Bible

Cantillation

rom

Turkey-Genesis

9:1.

Rec.:

G. Kiwi

=

128

-

rail.

M.5333

W'-Jo-seph

hu- rad

Mitz-ra-y,-ma

wa-yik-n~-

-

-

hu

0.

-

---

Po-ti - far

si

-

ris

Par-'oh

.. . ..

..

5

St.

Musicologica

VII,

(1965)




7/11

66

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The

Bards

of

the

Bible

Sar-

-

-

ha-ta-ba-him

-

-

ish

mnitz-ri

K)

K

mi-vad

ha-Yish-im-e

..

hi-n

a-sher ho

-

ri

-

du-hu sha

-

ma

In

the

following,

the folk

version

of the

same

chapter

of the

Joseph

story

is

reproduced,

told

(but

never written

down)

in the double

verses

of

eight

syllables

as used in the medieval romance.

Comparison

between

the

two

versions is here made

more difficult

because

of

the

enormous

extension

of the neumatic

melismas which

-

although

they

are the

soul

and

the

beauty

of

Sephardic-Spanish

chant

- at the same time

obscure

the tonal scheme. But there

can be

no doubt that the romance

tune

runs

closely parallel

to the ornamented

speech

melody

of the Biblical

chant,s

acting,

so-to-say,

as its

de-hydrated counterpart.

Ex.

4.

The

Story

of

Yoseph

-

Epit

in

Ladino

(Sephardic

-

Turkish

tradition)

Rec.:

v.

5.

G.

Kiwi

-

138

M. 5334.

M'._II..

.II

'

.I--

Los

her

(e)

ma

-

nos

dis-he-ron

vi

-

nid

ko-me

-

re

-

mos

Por

a

-

qui

pas

-

san

me-ros

y

1o

ven

-

de

-

re

-

mos

De sus bel

-

los es

-

fue

-gnos

el

ca

-

ro ve

-

re-

-

mos,

De

sus

bel-los

es-

fue

-gnos

el

ca

-

ro

ve

-

re

- - -

mos.

The third

and

last

pair

of

examples

comes from Kurdestan.

First

a

sample

of

the

Pentateuch-Reading

(Gen.

18.

13)

in the

local version

of

Kurdish-Iraq

communities

which

again

reveals

the

tendency

to

lengthy

closing

melismas

though

in a different

style

of ornamental motifs.

SFor

a different

aspect,

see

the author's

Religious

Chant

: a

Pan-Asiatic

Conception

of

Music,

Journal

of

the

IFMC ,

vol.

XIII,

1961,

pp.

64-67.

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)




8/11

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The

Bards

of

the Bible

67

Ex.

5.

Hebrew

Bible

Cantillation

-

Jews

of

Kurdestan.

Genesis

18

:

13.

Rec.

G.

Kiwi

Parlando

=

150

M.5361/62

K

5

Wa-yo-mer

A- do-

nai

el

-

A-bra-ham

:

La-ma ze -

tza

ha-kah

Sa-

rah

leC

mor

ha-aph

um-nam

e

-

led

wa'

a-rni

za

-

kan

-

ti.

Here follows

the Kurdish

folk version

of the

Joseph

legend

of

which

we

have

transcribed the

opening

two

stanzas and a

third

one

from

the

middle

of

the

recitation

(No.

31).

Ex.

6.

Biblical

Epic.:

The

Story

of

Yoseph

(aramaean)

recorded

Jews

of

Kurdestan.

E.

G.-Kiwi

v.1.

=158

M.

5351-/60

De sh'

me-un

ya

ho-

za-

ey, de

ve-tun

kri-ye

bet

shi-met

Mu-say

-

e

3

kitzetit

Yo

-seph

uMitz

-

- -

ra-

-

yi-e,

mad'kanm

af-ki-le-

balaye.

v.

2.

=

136

De

sh'mun

gale

na-she de

kra-un

ban

ha-ma-she

dichzaun

mna

le

to-rath

Moshe,

5

ta

kumdide

hi-wa-le

b'noshe

wa-lu

kzi-we

gwa

kulu

chabre

ka

-

dishe.

v.

31.

150

Gimb

makshename-

- nu- chun hi

-

bi

go-zen

me-

-

nu-chun

desakun

map.-

5*

St.

Musicologica VII.

(1965)




9/11

68

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The

Bards

of

the

Bible

ku

-

le

min

go

b'hera

gru-shu

le,

kam

ba-bi

ma-hem

tu

-

le,

bab'itsewuse

el ba-bi har mam-tu le,

b'kat-la tu-le

kume,

el

ar-'a

b'makipe-

-

tu

-

le,

guabh

abi

ma bia

wi-

-

tu

-

ley,

ah, ah,

ah,

ah

-

ay,

gu-ab

ru'a

uro-manama

bia-tu-ley

As the

recorded

transcription

proves,

the

three

stanza

units

are

of

irregular

length

and

structure,

though

No.

31

gives

a

more consolidated

sample.

The

lay-out

of

each stanza is

broad

and

of

a

sweeping

melodic

lead

downwards,

quite

in

contrast with

the much

proclaimed

simplicity

of

Western

epics

with

a

standard

one-line-pattern

of

melody

and

a narrow

range

of a

few tones. The

following

Table

of

(8)

melodic outlines

of

the

above narrative

surprisingly

unveils a fine

melodic

organism

and

a

strict

modal scheme

underlying

the

changing

fioriture

of the

fluctuating

recita-

tion. It is a threefold melody moving down on two disjunct tetrachords.

arrested between

them,

and

circumscribing

the final tone with

cadential

ornaments. This

is a

structure

similar to that

which

B61a

Bart6k

described

while

analyzing

the

Hora

lungd

of

the

Rumanians

from

Maramures.6

Ex. 7.

The

Story

of

Yoseph (Kurdestan)

:Melodic

Outlines

and

Scheme

(

verses

i

-

7;

31

).

M

5351/

60

v.

1.

V.

2.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

I------ \ /

\ / \--

v.

..

.

_

.

rr

w

6

BART6K,

B.:

Volksmusik

der

Rumnrnen

von

Maramures,

Sammelbinde

f.

vergleichende

Musikwissenschaft

vol.

4,

1923,

No. 23.

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)




10/11

E. Gerson-Kiwi: The

Bards

of

the

Bible

69

0t

4n-

I------- i

__I

-----

_

\

/___

/

\

v.31.

, cn,.

wit

t

B

chant,

....e--

t

n o

'-

-

W.

-W

g

U

-

A

B1'

_

(

Moda

A

W 344

---------

Schemenn

With the Kurdestan

story

we

have

reached the

full-fledged

form

of

a folk

epic

tangible

through

its narrative

character

and its

passionate,

often dramatic

recitative,

and

the

lack

of

any song-like

element. If

there

is

still a connection with the

Biblical

chant,

it lies in

the

nature of the

motivic groupings which in both cases proceed in small pairs of tones

and in

descending

sequences.

In

general,

these

Kurdish

narratives

on

Biblical as

well as secular

subjects

-

of the

latter

we

have

already

recorded more than 60 stories

-

have

to be treated in the tradition

of

the

great

heroic

epics

of Western

Asia

comprising

the Persian

Shah-name

by

Firdausi,

the Arabian Maa-

mat

by

Hariri

and the Thousand and

One

Nights

which

already

in

the

middle

ages

invaded

European

story-telling

and were in

many ways

re-

modelled into

the

different forms

of the

chanson

de

geste.

In

particular,

the

epics

of

Kurdestan,

geographically

spread

over

four

nations,

may

constitute the

missing

link

between

these Eastern

heroic tales

and those

of the

Caucasus,

Georgia,

Turkey

and

the

great

centre

of

story-tellers

in

the

Balkans,

the

Greek

aoidos

and

the

Cypriote

poietarides7,

the

Hungarian

regqs,8

he

Yugoslav

guslars,

or

the

Rumanian

Laontares

-

to

mention

only

some of them.

They

can

be

further

comple-

mented

by

the

great

Northern

traditions

of

Irish,

Welsh,

Scandinavian

I

See

Introduction to

Modern Greek Heroic

Oral

Poetry (EFL

4468),

by

J. A.

NoToPouLos,

with

example

transcribed

by

S.

PERISTERES.

8

KODALY,

Z.:

The Folk Music

of

Hungary,

London

1964.

p.

69-75.

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)




11/11

70

E.

Gerson-Kiwi:

The

Bards

of

the Bible

and

Finnish

bards.

Concerning

the

motives

of

folk

tales

and their

narra-

tion

style

of

melody,

nearly

all of them seem

to

point

eastwards,9

to

a

still

older

common

source

from

which

even

the

Bible stories

have

drawn

some fundamental

features.

9

See,

in this

respect,

CROSSLEY-HOLLAND,

P.: Non- Western Music, in The

Pelican

History

of

Music ,

vol.

1,

p.

131.

For

a

more

general

aspect:

WIORA,

W.:

Gesungene

Erzdhlung

als

Strophenlied,

Les

Colloques

de

Wegimont ,

1956;

BOSE,

F.: Law and

Freedom

in the

Interpretation

of European

Folk

Epics,

Journal

of

IFMC

vol.

X, 1958, pp.

29-34;

HOERBURGER,

F.:

Westastliche Entsprechungen

im

Volksepos,

Die

Musikforschung

V,

1952,

p.

354 ff.

St.

Musicologica

VII.

(1965)

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