Divahn (middle eastern musical group)

[Jack]

Common to Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew, the word "Divahn" means collection of songs or poetry and is the name of a group I sold CDs for and met the other day.

They're really wonderful women. And great musicians and storytellers. And hot.

They sing traditional Hebrew, Iraqi-Jewish, and other Middle Eastern songs. And they do it well.

Galeet Dardashti's voice is really operatic and she sings like it's no effort at all.

Her microphone stand broke mid-stage, and instead of stopping the show, they managed to make it work.

I really like them. I bought one of their CDs.

Can anybody tell me what "Va'amartem Zevakh Pesakh" means? That's my favorite song. They had us to clap along to it and it was really awesome. I think maybe it's a Psalm. I only recognize one word in it, "adonai," (a word used for God) but I'm curious as to the rest of it.

They sing in Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Ladino, but I think the above song is Hebrew...

Here is their website, where you can hear some song samples:

http://www.divahn.com

It's wonderful!

[Cynth]

They sound like a really good group. I could not find a translation of the song you mentioned. I think also that it is in Hebrew. I think it is not a Psalm, but rather something like what the Christian religion would call a hymn. The words are not taken from the Bible but are someone's expression of religious feeling, and there is a refrain. There are some websites about that have more information about and archives of piyyutim and pizmonim in particular, but they are in Hebrew. I think maybe there are some slight contradictions in some of these sources, but I cannot really straighten it out!

6. Va'amartem Zevakh Pesakh
words: Hebrew
music: Iraq
Many Iraqi Jews sing this traditional pizmon at the Passover seder; it praises God for rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

The rhythm and string quartet captures the sinuous grooves of Mizrakhi music, with percussionist Lauren DcAlbert leading the way on tabla, doumbek, riq, tar and castanets on numbers including the traditional Iraqi religious poem "Va'amartem Zevakh Pesakh."

The creation of new music is typically considered a task that involves writing original music. Certainly in most contexts of Western music in various forms, writing new compositions or new songs is the goal of composers and performers. In other cultural contexts the creation of new music comesthrough adaptation. In the Sephardic and Mizrachi traditions there is a distinct process of adapting new music that is used for liturgical purposes, for life cycle events and in the synagogue.

The first step is taking a pre-existing song that has a text and music. In the example that follows, an Arabic song is adapted to be used in a liturgical context. The text is in Arabic and the musical is in an Arabian style. This process of adaptation can be with music that is Spanish, Turkish or Greek.

The second step in the process of adaptation is to create a Hebrew text. This Hebrew text is set to the pre-existing music as the music stays the same. The genre of liturgical Hebrew poetry is called piyyut (piyyutim pl.). Piyyutim have over a 1,500 year history, dating back to 500. During the Golden Age of Spain, 10th-12th Centuries, the cultural developments of the time, discussed above, impacted the piyyut as a poetic genre to include elaborate rhyme schemes and a consistent meter. Various sub-genres emerged; a pizmon is one well-known form that includes a repeating chorus.

The third step in the process of adaptation is to use a liturgical text in Hebrew(or in some cases Aramaic), instead of the Hebrew words of the piyyut. This is how new music is adapted into a liturgical context: an original Arabic melodyis developed into a piyyut and then becomes part of the liturgy. In some instances the melody from an Arabic song may be directly brought into the liturgy, eliminating the 2nd step.

We will now look at an actual example of the process of adaptation from the Syrian tradition. Step 1: an Arabic song with an Arabic text and melody. “Hawwid Min Hina” was written in the 1920s and sung by Zakki Murad. Arabic songs were recorded on 78rpms and actively consumed in Arab culture throughout the world. Step 2: The pizmon that was created in the 1930s, by Syrian Rabbi and Hazzan Moses Ashear, became “Bo’i Berinah”. Step 3: The melody was then adapted to the liturgical text “Shav’at Aniyyim”, part of the Sabbath morning service.

Some more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizmon

[Jack]

Oh, thank you!!

[Jack]

Oh, thank you!!

[Flyingcursor]

Cool. Hiya Cran!!!! Glad you stopped by.