{"id":1898,"date":"2020-05-15T14:56:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T13:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mapamundimusica.com\/?p=1898"},"modified":"2020-05-16T12:56:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T10:56:49","slug":"english-music-before-shabbat-with-izak-algazi-efendi-a-declaration-of-crippling-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapamundimusica.com\/en\/musicbeforeshabbat\/english-music-before-shabbat-with-izak-algazi-efendi-a-declaration-of-crippling-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Before Shabbat, with Izak Algazi Efendi. A declaration of crippling love ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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15 May 2020 – Shabbat is almost here<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Enjoy with Izak Algazi, born in Izmir in 1889. Let’s listen his “Reina de la Grasia”, queen of the grace, a recording from 1929, that is a declaration of a crippling love.<\/span><\/h3>\n
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I first learned about Izak Algazi from\u00a0Jako el Muzikante<\/a>, who told me about this hazzan\u00a0after a conversation\u00a0about Izak Ma\u00e7oro, who was our star\u00a0some MBSs\u00a0ago<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h6>\n

So, after three editions with klezmer, I return to the Sephardic heritage and to some old music. Izak Algazi was mentioned quite recently in\u00a0Ladinokomunita<\/a>, a fascinating email group with participants discussing in Ladino, some natives of the languaje and other people that have learnt it, many of them quite devoted to the continuity of the languaje. They mentioned the presence of a street called Algazi in Izmir, name in his honour.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Izak Algazi was very recognized for his artistry during his life. He was the son of another well-known hazzan from Izmir, Salomon Algazi. Izak had a brilliant career in Turkey, he made many recordings for several record companies and even Mustafa Kemal, before becoming Atat\u00fcrk, gave him an autographed Quran as a present.<\/p>\n

Algazi left Turkey in 1933, as the chances for a Jewish to develope any position in public life started to dissapear in the process of turkification. He settled in Paris for 2 years to complete his rabbinical studies and moved to Montevideo in 1935, because he was invited to join the Sephardic Synagogue.\u00a0Professor Edwin Seroussi<\/a><\/strong>, who knows his biography from at first-hand, has helped me to understand a bit better the situation that caused these events, so I thank him very much.<\/p>\n

You can find a list of his recordings on\u00a0SephardicMusic.org<\/a><\/strong>, website, where it is mentioned that he recorded this song in 3 occasions:\u00a01909, 1912 and 1929. Below you can hear the last one. In this same link you can read a brief bio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And what about the song of crippling love?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

By the way, I have to thank Joshua Cheek<\/strong> for helping with the term of “crippling” and\u00a0 some more tips of the English languaje. And I said it is a song of\u00a0crippling love, because of the lyrics. And it is curious because Izak Algazi’s wife’s name was Reina!!! And\u00a0reina\u00a0<\/em>means queen. The questions is that the\u00a0lyrics say:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Reina de la grasia
\nMadre de la bivez
\nOnde ke te tope
\nPor verte otra vez.<\/div>\n
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Vo murir, vo murir
\nSi tu mas non te vez<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
Queen of the grace
\nMother of the life
\nWhere could I found you
\nto see you once more.<\/p>\n
I’m going to die, I’m going to die
\nif I don’t see you again<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I wonder if Reina made him a lot of “love sorrows” before getting married and having their three kids. Anyway, with sorrows or not, let’s enjoy the amazing voice and the almost unbelievable melismata of Izak Algazi:<\/p>\n

Clic the picture to enjoy Reina de la Grasia,
\n<\/strong><\/span>by Izak Algazi:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n