Lucidarum: "Italian Renaissance Purim"
Mar. 4th, 2007 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenkushnerTonight's concert was exceptional: performers are charismatic & top-grade musically; repertoire unusual & interesting. Everyone in our party, from 11-yr-old girl to my cousins who did not know they were interested in Early Music loved it to bits. Material was less about Purim & more about Italian Jewish community ca. 1500-1750 in general, with nice lashings of folk roots.
Next stop on tour is Philadelphia on the Thurs. 8th, then MD, WI, CA, IL. See them if you can.
Next stop on tour is Philadelphia on the Thurs. 8th, then MD, WI, CA, IL. See them if you can.
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Date: 2007-03-05 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 05:03 am (UTC)Now I want a square drum.
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Date: 2007-03-05 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-07 07:14 am (UTC)All of my frame drums are round. One of my companions, an amazing percussionist I hire as often as possible, had also never seen one like it. I didn't see the percussionist afterwards to ask him about it.
In my googling, I found a blurb from another wonderful percussionist I have worked with:
Mauricio Molina (City University of New York Graduate Center), The square drum as a Semitic and messianic symbol in medieval Spanish iconography.
Literary and iconographical information testify that the square drum, which consists of a piece of parchment stretched and stitched over a square frame, was a popular instrument among female minstrels and Jewish and Islamic communities in medieval Spain. Owing to the instrument’s association with women and the "infidel" Semitic cultures, its representation in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Iberian bibles and cathedral portals was, depending on the context, invariably associated either with Judaism and the pagan Other or messianic symbolism. The instrument’s representation in medieval Christian iconography is the product of an earlier artistic practice of modernizing and secularizing musical instruments mentioned in the scriptures. Since the square drum was played by women and Jews it solved the problem of representing the drum that was mentioned in the Torah, an instrument played mainly by women, and called the tof (translated as tympanum in the Vulgate). Thus in places like the Pamplona Bibles, it is represented as being played during the adoration of the golden calf and during the fornication of the Moabite women, while the portal of the Cathedral of Burgos depicts it in the hands of one of the prophets of the Old testament.
From: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/rcmi/9thConferenceAbstracts.htm
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Date: 2007-03-08 03:38 am (UTC)Square Frame Drums
Date: 2007-04-14 09:39 pm (UTC)Thanks for sourcing my paper on square frame drums. I've been working on the reconstruction of its performance practice for a while. In fact, I just finished a dissertation titled "Frame Drums in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula." Some of m articles about this instrument will be forthcoming in Music in Art and The Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society. I'm now living and performing in Spain and continuing my research on square frame drums. Please check my group's website (http://www.sendebar.com) for upcoming concerts featuring this instrument. I will be teaching also historical percussion at the Amherst Early Music Festival this July.
--Mauricio Molina
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Date: 2007-03-05 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-07 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 03:54 pm (UTC)I find a lot of inspiration in Ester's marriage to Achashverosh. Before marrying Margo, I anguished about the thought that has been expressed that when Jews marry outside their people, they're doing more to destroy Judaism than Hitler did, especially when they almost inevitably raise their children outside of Judaism. I almost didn't ask her to marry me out of fear that I would be doing something horrible. Then I remembered Ester's son was not raised to be Jewish, but did more to restore Israel than many who were.
As for Margo and myself, we had daughters. So by birth they are Jewish. We're raising them in my religion (Christian) but teaching them about the dignity of both traditions, and encouraging them to be open to finding their own way to walk these paths upon adulthood.
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Date: 2007-03-06 03:07 pm (UTC)Intermarriage is a huge issue in the Jewish community, of course. Studies I've seen suggest that intermarried couples often choose raise their children Jewish - this is certainly the case in the ones I know personally. It's lovely that you're giving your daughters the options. The world needs more good people of any faith!
An organization with a very positive & inclusive approach is the JOI (Jewish Outreach Institute) - they're the ones who gave me the grant for my "Esther" show. I've got a lot of time for them.
Their Intermarriage FAQ is here
http://www.joi.org/qa/index.shtml#intermarriage
and includes an excellent list of Resources:
http://www.joi.org/qa/resources.shtml
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Date: 2007-03-08 02:53 am (UTC)Margo and I were aware of the JOI. We live in a town, Sharon MA, which has a large population of interfaith couples, so much so that about 40% of those attending Catholic Mass aren't Christian. The one reform synagogue allowed the Hindus to celebrate Divali there, and the Rabbis, Ministers and Priest all talk about their shared congregation, and celebrate Thanksgiving together, moving the location from house of worship to house of worship.
The town also has a large population of inter "racial" and openly gay/lesbian couples are active members of many of the congregations.
It is an interesting place.
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Date: 2007-03-08 03:42 am (UTC)