Voice of the Turtle – A different night

A Passover Musical Anthology

Because the holiday is of major importance to Jews all over the world, it is bountifully endowed
with a fascinating panorama of music. Voice of the Turtle has chosen a selection which reflects and explores the vast cultural wealth of Jewish life preserved within communities dispersed over centuries.

Had gadya is a cumulative table song with an improbable tale, which appeared in the Ashkenazi Haggadah around the 16th century. Its function and meaning are the subject of continuing debate. It is sometimes interpreted as an allegorical recounting of the fate of historical enemies of the Jewish people.
The text closely follows a 15th century German folk song, which is said to have derived from a French folk song. It seems to have appeared among the Ashkenazi Jews (Northern and Eastern Europe) in Aramaic and Hebrew, and later, at varying times in other communities, in other languages. As one can hear from this recording, it is often translated, reconfigured, and reinterpreted according to the traditions, the conditions and perspective of the community who sings it.

The musical arrangements by Voice of the Turtle are the result of a collaboration among the four members of the group. Whenever possible, the group learns the melody and words from original field recordings.

Learn more about the band
Buy the CD

Documents joints

Share:
0:00
0:00

You may also like

Histoires de voix hébraïques

Following his first book, Voix hébraïques - Voyage dans la musique juive d'Occident, published in 2020, Hector Sabo offers in…

The songbooks of Jewish youth movements

The European Institute of Jewish Music has collected a number of songbooks from Jewish youth movements (EEIF, Histadrut, Youth and…

The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) collection

In December 2023, the Library of the Alliance Israélite Universelle donated a number of musical documents (records, scores, books, archives,…

Piano Music by Jewish Composers

This collection of scores, compiled by Bella and Semjon Kalinowsky, includes little-known works by Louis Lewandowski, Joseph Sulzer, Salomon Jadassohn…