{"id":2601,"date":"2020-12-04T15:12:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T14:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mapamundimusica.com\/?p=2601"},"modified":"2020-12-06T21:53:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-06T20:53:19","slug":"mbs-a-talk-with-a-generous-disseminator-and-the-quest-for-the-multiples-branches-of-an-artistic-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapamundimusica.com\/en\/musicbeforeshabbat\/mbs-a-talk-with-a-generous-disseminator-and-the-quest-for-the-multiples-branches-of-an-artistic-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"MBS a talk with a generous disseminator, Joel Bresler, and the quest for the multiples branches of an artistic seed"},"content":{"rendered":"

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4th December 2020 \u2013 Shabbat is almost here\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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And I am pleased to share a little conversation with another disseminator whose work has fed mine in several ocassions: Joel Bresler. And we’ll listen Ruth Yaakov’s\u00a0Majo, Majo i Majo<\/em>\u00a0and discover how a song can produce many branches.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Hello, how are you?\u00a0I hope well. You know how I love old music. But from time to time I like to talk with people that are alive, because they can answer. I would love to make questions to\u00a0Moishe Oysher<\/a>\u00a0or to\u00a0Bienvenida Aguado<\/a>\u00a0but for now I just can dialogue with them in my fantasy. So on this occasion, I will be exchanging ideas with another disseminator whose work is exceptional:\u00a0Joel Bresler<\/strong>, creator of\u00a0SephardicMusic.org<\/a>. He is also very fond of old music and not only old. He is, in his own words, an “obsessed” collector and discographer.
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\n<\/span>On this enlightening report, “The Music of the Sephardim<\/a>” in Early Music America magazine, he and Judith Cohen (with whom I will talk soon) explain what is the Sephardic music and they mention several artists that have striven for authenticity and Ruth Yaakov is one of them. Find the video with her music at the bottom.<\/p>\n

– And, as usual, find the music piece at the bottom –\u00a0?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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Hannukah is coming soon and the last Hannukah is when this Music Before Shabbat initiative was born. Celebrate this birthday with me<\/strong>\u00a0?<\/strong>. All I want as a birthday present is to welcome more people here. Share this with your friends and with anybody who can enjoy it. Thank you in advance.<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\"Share<\/a><\/td>\nShare this with a friend, right from here<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Joel Bresler’s SephardicMusic.org<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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The website\u00a0SephardicMusic.org<\/a> has been a source of information for me in several occasions, specially related to the oldest recordings. For it didn’t seem to be supported by any organization, so I got curious to learn who was behind this jewel. And it was not difficult: Joel Bresler is the author and here below you have a little conversation in which he explains some interesting facts. I am really thanksful to him for his dedication! In the picture you see Joel with Mrs. Sylvia Cohen, who donated 78-rpm recordings for his project ?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Araceli Tzigane<\/strong>:\u00a0As a disseminator of Jewish music, and moreover being a Spanish person, your website is a treasure for me. I feel I can understand what forces drives you to disseminate this music you love. Because I think this is not a business, despite you may earn some income from the sales from Amazon done through the website<\/a>. These kinds of initiatives come from some transcendental need. Which is yours?<\/p>\n

Joel Bresler<\/strong>:\u00a0So glad you enjoy the website \u2013 that means a lot to me! I have never earned any money from the amazon links, so that wasn\u2019t a motivation. I went from devotee to collector to discographer. Enjoyed the music, then started collecting it, then attempting to collect every recording ever made with at least one song in ladino. And by then, since I had built a \u201cwant list\u201d of recordings that weren\u2019t in my collection I turned it into a discography. First for LPs, cassettes and CDs. And then a separate effort for 78s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AT:\u00a0<\/strong>In the website, in the About, you explain that you were transfixed by Sephardic music when you first heard it thirty years ago (now it must be around forty years ago, right?).<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AT:\u00a0<\/strong>But what happened, why did you get transfixed? What was the specific song or recording? Was it just because of the music or also because you realized there were Jews who spoke Spanish out of Spain for 5 centuries or anything else?<\/p>\n

JB:\u00a0<\/strong>I love Renaissance music and also listened to a lot of Spanish Renaissance music. So my first Sephardic recording was the Hesperion XX double LP of Jewish and Christian music. They performed Sephardic music as Renaissance music which is actually not that authentic, but it was my start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AT:\u00a0<\/strong>I’d like to highlight that you have another career, you are currently the Director of Technology Ventures at Northeastern University. It sounds very cutting edge. You are not the first Jewish person who I have met that works in something very technological and at the same time has an initiative related to the dissemination of Jewish culture, like a festival of live music or your website. Are you also a musician yourself? Do you have any other initiative, apart from your work and the website of SephardicMusic.org?<\/p>\n

JB:\u00a0<\/strong>I fell deeply for the American folk song Follow The Drinking Gourd and wrote a cultural history of it at www.followthedrinkinggourd.org . I have also prepared political parodies the last three us presidential elections, see:<\/span><\/p>\n

2020:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HD-vY5WIZdw<\/a>
\n2016:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LM_9CltI4G8&feature=youtu.be\u00a0<\/a>
\n2012:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bWs7TXCy7uI&t=5s\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

AT:\u00a0<\/strong>What are the origins of your family? I believe Bresler comes from Breslau\/Wroc\u0142aw, the city that is currently in the South West of Poland, doesn’t it? Can you explain to me the background of your ancestors from both sides? Bresle is the Yiddish for Wroclaw. I believe you may not have Sephardic ancestors, do you? (according to your answer I might have to ask you something more).<\/p>\n

JB:\u00a0<\/strong>Hi, you have all this exactly right. My maternal grandmother\u2019s maiden name was Karo, which as you may was the name of a very well-known and influential Sephardic rabbi. There were Sephardim who made it as far as Poland, so it\u2019s possible even if not likely.\u00a0Since it is such an influential name, it could be my ancestors adopted it for the prestige. We may never know. I\u2019ll probably get a genetics test some day!<\/span><\/p>\n

Related to Joseph Karo, Joel provided several links:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n