Lecture: "3,000 years of Jewish music", by Hervé ROTEN - Institut Européen des Musiques Juives

As part of the "Languages and Cultures of Jewish Worlds" cycle, proposed by the Centre Medem in partnership with the IEMJ

There is not just one, but many different Jewish musics, each one the result of a specific history and cultural environment. Ancient Hebrew music, for example, has Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Egyptian roots…

In the early 16th century, Christian humanists became interested in the systems of biblical accents (te’amim), which they attempted to transcribe musically. (Examples include the manuscripts of Johannes Reuchlin, J. Böschenstein and Sebastian Münster, circa 1520).

However, it was not until the 19th century that a number of European cantors began to write down their hazzanout practice. At that time, music was generally considered to be the cultural emanation of the genius of peoples…

Hervé ROTEN is an ethnomusicologist and has a PhD in musicology from the Université Paris IV Sorbonne. He is director of the Institut Européen des Musiques Juives and the author of numerous articles, books and recordings on various aspects of Jewish musical traditions in France and around the world.