"Araber tanz"- Greek version
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eva.b...@gmail.com
Apr 23, 2008, 2:37:54 AM4/23/08
to Rebetika
Hi everyone,
Some time ago I posted a query about "Araber Tanz" which prompted an
interesting discussion-but we didn't find out the original Greek
melody. Anyway, the query was originally posted on another list, and
today there was a comprehensive reply. So, for anyone interested in
the connections between klezmer and rebetiko, here it is.
Best, Eva
The recording in question is titled "Pliyes" ("wounds") and was
recorded by Yangos (or Giankos) Psamathialis (or
Psomathianos/Psamatialis/Psamatianos).
The spelling variants come care of Martin Schwartz who added that "on
another old disk the accordionist's name is [given as] Jangos
Pantelonas, which may, I think, have been the guy's real name,
Psamat(h)ia being a place in istanbul whence his various label names."
Pliyes was reissued on a CD: "Constantinople in old recordings" -
vol. 9 in a series The Greek Archives, #635
I've had this CD for years now and I don't know whether it is still
available.
"Pliyes" was first brought to my attention many years ago by Joel
Rubin who also had a cassette copy of a recording of this melody
played in a slow, expressive solo interpretation on santouri.
Martin Schwartz and I have expressed to each other our continuing
surprise at how tunes like this, based on recordings that proclaim
themselves by their titles to NOT be Jewish tunes ("Arabian Dance")
get absorbed into the klezmer music repertoire and aquire an almost
anthem-like status on a par with much more decidedly Jewish pieces.
It seems to be assumed automatically that just because Naftule
Brandwein recorded it, it is klezmer music. But Naftule loved many
kinds of music and recorded many examples of music that was, I am
sure, intended and perceived as exotic and novel at the time.
Naftule's interest in Greek music manifests itself on several of his
recordings, especially "Terkisher Yale Veyove" and no longer seems
surprising to me. Zev Feldman has related to me that, years ago, he
knew some older Greek musicians in New York who knew
Naftule. According to Zev, they said that Naftule used to come
around where they played because he liked Greek music very much.
Two other recordings of Psamathialis appear on Martin Schwartz's
reissue of "Greek-Oriental Rebetica" - Arhoolie Folklyric CD7005
Some time ago I posted a query about "Araber Tanz" which prompted an
interesting discussion-but we didn't find out the original Greek
melody. Anyway, the query was originally posted on another list, and
today there was a comprehensive reply. So, for anyone interested in
the connections between klezmer and rebetiko, here it is.
Best, Eva
The recording in question is titled "Pliyes" ("wounds") and was
recorded by Yangos (or Giankos) Psamathialis (or
Psomathianos/Psamatialis/Psamatianos).
The spelling variants come care of Martin Schwartz who added that "on
another old disk the accordionist's name is [given as] Jangos
Pantelonas, which may, I think, have been the guy's real name,
Psamat(h)ia being a place in istanbul whence his various label names."
Pliyes was reissued on a CD: "Constantinople in old recordings" -
vol. 9 in a series The Greek Archives, #635
I've had this CD for years now and I don't know whether it is still
available.
"Pliyes" was first brought to my attention many years ago by Joel
Rubin who also had a cassette copy of a recording of this melody
played in a slow, expressive solo interpretation on santouri.
Martin Schwartz and I have expressed to each other our continuing
surprise at how tunes like this, based on recordings that proclaim
themselves by their titles to NOT be Jewish tunes ("Arabian Dance")
get absorbed into the klezmer music repertoire and aquire an almost
anthem-like status on a par with much more decidedly Jewish pieces.
It seems to be assumed automatically that just because Naftule
Brandwein recorded it, it is klezmer music. But Naftule loved many
kinds of music and recorded many examples of music that was, I am
sure, intended and perceived as exotic and novel at the time.
Naftule's interest in Greek music manifests itself on several of his
recordings, especially "Terkisher Yale Veyove" and no longer seems
surprising to me. Zev Feldman has related to me that, years ago, he
knew some older Greek musicians in New York who knew
Naftule. According to Zev, they said that Naftule used to come
around where they played because he liked Greek music very much.
Two other recordings of Psamathialis appear on Martin Schwartz's
reissue of "Greek-Oriental Rebetica" - Arhoolie Folklyric CD7005
Nikos A. Politis
Apr 23, 2008, 4:54:05 AM4/23/08
to Rebetika
Of course, Eva, that’s the tune. It had missed my attention.
Congratulations to Martin!
It should not surprise either him or you, however, that a tune that
happened to be known to the Greek Orthodox community of Constantinople
(possibly also to other ethnic communities) has also been included in
the Klezmer repertoire. This happened all the time in this big
melting pot of music and I wouldn’t think that Jews only allowed
Jewish tunes to be added to their repertoire. Martin knows better
about that, of course.
To me, the surprise lies in the name selected: “Araber Tanz” most
probably leads to Ashkenazi Jews, rather than Sepharadic people,
because of the German elements in the formation of the words. This,
of course, is something for you people of Jewish origin to
investigate.
On Apr 23, 9:37 am, "eva.bro...@gmail.com" <eva.bro...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Congratulations to Martin!
It should not surprise either him or you, however, that a tune that
happened to be known to the Greek Orthodox community of Constantinople
(possibly also to other ethnic communities) has also been included in
the Klezmer repertoire. This happened all the time in this big
melting pot of music and I wouldn’t think that Jews only allowed
Jewish tunes to be added to their repertoire. Martin knows better
about that, of course.
To me, the surprise lies in the name selected: “Araber Tanz” most
probably leads to Ashkenazi Jews, rather than Sepharadic people,
because of the German elements in the formation of the words. This,
of course, is something for you people of Jewish origin to
investigate.
On Apr 23, 9:37 am, "eva.bro...@gmail.com" <eva.bro...@gmail.com>
wrote:
eva.b...@gmail.com
Apr 23, 2008, 10:24:06 AM4/23/08
to Rebetika
Hi Nikos,
Great to see the mystery solved, isn't it?
Klezmer is the music of the Ashkenazi Jews, that is the Jews who lived
in Germany, Russia, Poland etc. They had their own language, Yiddish,
and klezmer/Ashkenazi songs are usually sung in Yiddish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi
That is why the titles of klezmer tunes are written in Yiddish (which
is close to German, of course). I think titles like "Araber Tanz" and
"Der Terk in Amerika" denote that there is something "exotic" or
"oriental" about the tune, like the oriental-style Greek rebetika and
laika songs ("Sth magemeni Arapia" etc.).
The Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and who
settled in the Ottoman Empire (North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans)
adopted the music and culture of their host countries and sang either
in Judeo-Spanish or in Arabic, Turkish etc. There are many wonderful
Jewish/Moroccan singers in the Arab-Andalusian tradition, like Samy El-
Maghribi and Emil Zrihan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWT_WpNneVc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09nM6gUbBY
Both these singers are also "hazzanim" (cantors, something similar to
psaltes in the Orthodox Greek tradition) and in general the religious
music of the Sephardic Jews has retained its "oriental" character,
with the use of Arabic maqamat etc. Here is a religious song in
Hebrew, performed by one of the most popular oriental Jewish singers
in Israel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30s7bty7dlc
This is not exactly related to rebetiko, sorry about the off-topic!
Eva
> > reissue of "Greek-Oriental Rebetica" - Arhoolie Folklyric CD7005- Dölj citerad text -
>
> - Visa citerad text -
Great to see the mystery solved, isn't it?
Klezmer is the music of the Ashkenazi Jews, that is the Jews who lived
in Germany, Russia, Poland etc. They had their own language, Yiddish,
and klezmer/Ashkenazi songs are usually sung in Yiddish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi
That is why the titles of klezmer tunes are written in Yiddish (which
is close to German, of course). I think titles like "Araber Tanz" and
"Der Terk in Amerika" denote that there is something "exotic" or
"oriental" about the tune, like the oriental-style Greek rebetika and
laika songs ("Sth magemeni Arapia" etc.).
The Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and who
settled in the Ottoman Empire (North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans)
adopted the music and culture of their host countries and sang either
in Judeo-Spanish or in Arabic, Turkish etc. There are many wonderful
Jewish/Moroccan singers in the Arab-Andalusian tradition, like Samy El-
Maghribi and Emil Zrihan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWT_WpNneVc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09nM6gUbBY
Both these singers are also "hazzanim" (cantors, something similar to
psaltes in the Orthodox Greek tradition) and in general the religious
music of the Sephardic Jews has retained its "oriental" character,
with the use of Arabic maqamat etc. Here is a religious song in
Hebrew, performed by one of the most popular oriental Jewish singers
in Israel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30s7bty7dlc
This is not exactly related to rebetiko, sorry about the off-topic!
Eva
>
> - Visa citerad text -
levantis
Apr 25, 2008, 7:02:35 AM4/25/08
to Rebetika
20. Πληγές
Καλαματιανός σε τρόπο χιτζάζ, ηχογραφημένος στα 1910, από τον Γιάγκο
Ψαμαθιανό
{δηλ. από τα Ψωμαθιά της Πόλης}.
Παίζουν σαντούρι καί αρμόνικα. Το τραγούδι επανεκδόθηκε αργότερα στη
Αμερική.
Την μελωδία του συναντάμε σε αμερικάνικη ηχογράφηση εβραϊκού οργανικού
σκοπού, το 1940, με την ένδειξη >αραβικός χορός<.
from the booklet FM 635 Constantinople in old recordings, The Greek
Archives Vol.9
On 23 Apr., 16:24, "eva.bro...@gmail.com" <eva.bro...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Καλαματιανός σε τρόπο χιτζάζ, ηχογραφημένος στα 1910, από τον Γιάγκο
Ψαμαθιανό
{δηλ. από τα Ψωμαθιά της Πόλης}.
Παίζουν σαντούρι καί αρμόνικα. Το τραγούδι επανεκδόθηκε αργότερα στη
Αμερική.
Την μελωδία του συναντάμε σε αμερικάνικη ηχογράφηση εβραϊκού οργανικού
σκοπού, το 1940, με την ένδειξη >αραβικός χορός<.
from the booklet FM 635 Constantinople in old recordings, The Greek
Archives Vol.9
On 23 Apr., 16:24, "eva.bro...@gmail.com" <eva.bro...@gmail.com>
wrote:
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