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Between Tradition and Transformation

Shabbat Musical Practice in the Jewish Community of Istanbul

February 10, 2020
19.00
This talk is free to attend

Orient-Institut Istanbul, Susam Sokak No. 16, D:8, Cihangir


This talk by Dr Joseph M. Alpar, scholar, performer, and faculty member at Bennington College, will be about ongoing transformations in the sacred musical repertoires practiced by ḥazzanim (synagogue cantors) and their synagogue congregations in Istanbul’s contemporary Jewish community. Dr. Alpar argues that clergy and laypeople alike negotiate their religious identities as Turkish Jews in the musical choices they make. While many try to maintain the community’s local music tradition, rooted in makam – the Ottoman Turkish melodic system – others attempt to broaden their repertoire with music from around the globe. He will examine adjustments made to the musical components of ritual as responses to decades of Jewish religious life as experienced under the authority of the secular Turkish state and to the resurgence of religious observance within certain segments of the Jewish community.


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