Hervé Roten - Actes Sud et Cité de la Musique, 1998, Paris
To describe the diversity of the Jewish musical traditions may seem to be a challenge. But such is the aim of this book which presents a step by step evolution of the music of the Hebrew people up to the stylistic explosion of liturgical Jewish music of today. Through this journey, the author speaks in particular of the emergence of religious poetry (piyyutim), the blooming of the great mystical movements and the great traditions of synagogue singing in Eastern Europe.
Several chosen stops let us discover the musical life of ancient Marrane communities from the South West of France, the richness of the musical heritage of Jews from Djerba, or the amazing liturgy of Jews from Ethiopia.
This book – which comes with a disc that collects archival documents and recordings by the author – offers useful methodological tools applicable to all Jewish music.
