{"id":52088,"date":"2020-04-26T12:52:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T10:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/levy-solly-1939-2020\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T10:28:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:28:45","slug":"levy-solly-1939-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/en\/levy-solly-1939-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u00e9vy, Solly (1939-2020)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tribute by\u00a0<\/a>Judith Cohen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Solly Levy was born in Tangier (Morocco) on November 1st, 1939. He emigrated to Canada with his wife, Madeleine, and their two children Claire and Eddy, in 1968. Upon his arrival, Solly Levy found his place in the Sefardi community. Having taught in the schools of the Alliance Isra\u00e9lite Universelle in Morocco, he pursued his career for almost 30 years in a Montreal high school. During their retirement, Solly and Madeleine moved to Toronto, where Solly continued to hold a central place in the Sefardi community, while still creating new projects.<\/p>\n

\"1.gerineldo_orosollykellyjudith_ca1982photobyrobertadamsmontreal_redim_300px_horiz.jpg\"<\/a>
Oro, Solly, Kelly & Judith ca 1982, Montreal<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I met Solly, forty years ago, I had just started my PhD doctorate at the Universit\u00e9 de Montreal, on Sefardi music in Canada. Professor Samuel Armistead (1927-2013) introduced me to his former student, Professor Oro Anahory-Librowicz, a specialist in the Moroccan Judeo-Spanish romancero. Oro had been Solly\u2019s pupil in Morocco, in the Alliance Isra\u00e9lite Universelle school of Tetuan. She wanted to create an ensemble dedicated to Moroccan Judeo Spanish songs. Solly, who was then directing the\u00a0Kinor Sefardi Choir<\/a>, invited the soloist Kelly (Raquel) Sultan Amar. Oro was looking for a fourth member, who spoke Spanish, and could sing and play traditional instruments. This is why, one morning in 1980, Oro and Solly knocked on the door of my small bohemian apartment in Montreal\u2019sold “Mile End”neighborhood ; this was the first meeting of the ensemble which was to be called \u00ab Gerineldo \u00bb. Later, the violonist, ud player and percussionist Charly Edry joined the band.<\/p>\n

\"2.gerineldo_mariposafolkfestivaltoronto_ca1984_0002_redim_300px_vertic-2.jpg\"<\/a>
Gerineldo – Mariposa Folk Festival Toronto, ca 1984<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With Gerineldo, we sang, rehearsed, and travelled: to Spain, USA, Israel. Solly sang, of course, with his legendary magnetism on stage, and in addition, he created musical theatre plays in Haketia, the Moroccan Judeo-Spanish much less known than the Ottoman Judeo-Spanish, often called today \u00ab Ladino \u00bb. He directed those plays, performed several roles, and taught us expressions and the right pronunciation of Haketia that he loved so much. He always suggested extraordinary new ideas ; also, he provided important information for my PhD dissertation. Solly taught us a lot, and made us laugh \u2013 I remember moments where we, the three women of Gerineldo, said shaking our heads : \u201cah, yes, this is Solly\u2019s artistic temperament\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Gerineldo – Cordoba, 1992<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his musical theatre plays, Solly invented characters that reflected his own personalities. He himself was of course Selom\u00f3, the family\u2019s patriarch, in an early 20th century\u2019s Morocco. We played our own ancestors : \u201clos de embasho\u201d [thoseof the world below], \u201cLos mizhores entre mozotros\u201d [the best among us]. Solly played also the \u00ab modern \u00bb Spanish doctor, and the Moroccan boy who brought dafina, the Shabbat dish, to the neighborhood families. Oro played two roles : Makn\u00edn, the old grandmother, still living in a traditional way, and the grand son who was preparing his bar-mitsva with Selom\u00f3. The beautiful Kelly, born in Melilla, from where she never lost her Andalusian accent, played Tsipor\u00e1, the step-daughter \u2013 with her andalusian accent that she always spoke more naturally than Haketia. And I, Ashkenazi, born in Montreal, English speaking, ethnomusicologist, which character could I have been? At the time, for my doctoral research, I had just recorded Bouena Sarfatty Garfinkle[1]<\/sup><\/a>Bouena Sarfatty Garfinkle (1916\u20131997), born in Salonica, was a Greek partisan during World War II. Her memoirs and collections of songs, sayings and poetry are are invaluable documents about Jewish … Lire la suite<\/span><\/span><\/span>