GUO, KE:
A RHIZOMATIC JOURNEY
郭可 | 以音乐探索世界，历史，和人文
To explore the world, the history, and the humanity through musicTo reimagine the transmission of traditional musicTo bridge the field of Music Education and Ethnomusicology
The Sephardic Jews know an exemplary history of global migration and cultural exchanges with diverse ethnic-cultural groups, and their musical expressions reflect this pattern with an extremely diverse soundscape that fit under the wide-spanning umbrella term of “Sephardic music”. Liberal exchanges with cultures that surround their communities served to shape the secular Sephardic music into a dynamic reflection of the people’s living environments. Migrations of communities, traveling rabbis and cantors all contributed to the complex musical cultures within communities. The deterritorialization (and reterritorialization) of Sephardic culture, the dynamic and fluid nature of cultural change, and the democratic dialogues between musical cultures have fueled the transmission and educational scenes of Sephardic music.
Transmission of Sephardic Music Interview Series
Transmission of Sephardic Music Interview Series
Eliezer Papo | Transmission of Sephardic Music Interview Series (English)
Okaniwa Yayoi | Transmission of Sephardic Music Interview Series (English/Japanese)
Albert Israel | Transmission of Sephardic Music Interview Series (English/Ladino)
Focusing on applied ethnomusicological approach, this research and filming project aim to highlight the diversity within Sephardic Jewish music, and to inspire audience to grow their own critical understanding in today’s complex musical encounters with diasporic cultures. Sephardic music has been transmitted in and out of its community as an embodiment of history and memory that has been changing continuously over place and time. Through my journey of research on the topic, I am fascinated by the diversity of the sound of Sephardic music. Starting from a simple question, “What is Sephardic music?”, this interview-filming project intent to present the complexity of Sephardic music scenes to the general public, through conversations with over fifteen scholars, musicians, educators, and people in and out of the Sephardic communities in worldwide locations such as Israel, Turkey, Spain, and the United States.
El Bukieto de Romansas (A Bouquet of Ballads)
Ladino Transcription and English Translation of a collection of Sephardic Jewish Ballads
by Ke GuoDr. David BunisHazzan Isaac AzoseDr. Anthony GeistPaco Díez
Contributor:Dr. Susana Weich-Shahak
This project transcribed and translated the Sephardic Jewish song book collection El Bukieto de Romansas published in Istanbul in 1926 by Binyamín B. Yoseph. It is a collective effort from a community of scholars, Sephardic cantor (Hazzan), and musicians.
--Why do we do this project?--
The language of Ladino, or Judeo Spanish/Judezmo, is an extremely endangered language. It was the language spoken by the Sephardic Jewish communities after they were forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula at the end of 15th century. For centuries, the written Ladino language used the Hebrew rashi script. However, people have switched to the Latin alphabet for written prints from the mid-2oth century, and the rich historical archives in rashi script is no longer easily readable even for the Sephardic Jewish communities.
The original book of "El Bukieto de Romansas" was written in Hebrew rashi script. For this reason, many of the ballads recorded in this book were left in oblivion. This project of transcription and translation brings back many of the Sephardic Jewish "romansas" that were once well-known in Istanbul at the end of 19th century.
Collaborated Projects
