A Survey of Sephardic Music from Andalucía Prior to the Expulsion

Описание: A Survey of Sephardic Music from Andalucía Prior to the Expulsion - Barone Antonio Giordano da Siclia, O.P./O.L. (West)

Sephardic music has its roots in the musical traditions of the Jewish communities in medieval Spain; it is an expression of the Jewish identity that was maintained by the Jewish communities living in the Iberian Peninsula.

After the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem, some 80,000 Jews were transported to Spain in chains during the conquests and reconquests of Palestine by the Roman Generals Titus, Vespasian and Hadrian. Within days of arriving in Spain, these prisoners were likewise redeemed from bondage by their brethren who already lived in the Iberia. [According to the tenants of Judaic law, the freeing of the enslaved was regarded as one of the greatest mtzvot (virtues) in the cultural milieu of the Jewish People.]

The Jews settled throughout Spain, growing in numbers and contributing to the cultural and economic growth of the region. They enjoyed relative freedom and prosperity; they erected fortified cities (known as the cities of the Jews), e.g. Granada (la cuidad de los Judios). The topics of Sephardic folk songs include topical-entertainment songs, romance songs and spiritual-ceremonial songs celebrating Old Testament topics and religious holidays.

Since their expulsion from Spain in 1492 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Sephardim settled in a number of locations (e.g. Europe, North Africa and the dominions of the Ottoman Empire). Those Sephardim who settled in Western Europe maintained ties with Spain and their cultural language (Ladino) was modified by the changes in the Spanish language and the languages of the lands in which they settled; however, those Sephardim who settled in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire were cut off from Spain and as such, they were not affected by the changes in the Spanish language and continued to communicate in their original Ladino.

While these new lands may have had an impact on the musical accompaniment of these Sephardic songs, the lyrics were preserved in Ladino by these Sephardic communities which were created by the expulsions of 1492 (Spain) and 1497 (Portugal). It is merely a footnote to history that five hundred years later, King Juan Carlos of Spain officially repealed the expulsion in 1992.