Ensemble Saltiel - Boda, Sephardic Wedding Songs

$ 29.00

Aron Saltiel presents this fantastic new CD of Sephardic wedding songs, recorded with his family in Turkey. The CD is a varied array of traditional songs that were sung and danced during various phases of the wedding – from the engagement, the preparation of the dowry and the trading of gifts, to the drawing up of the marriage contract, the ceremony in the synagogue and finally to the week following the wedding.

Although documentary anthologies exist today, most emphasize the love songs, with this being the first recording to center exclusively on the wedding repertoire. The result is anything but monotonous, and rather than suffering from the theme of the wedding repertoire, this CD benefits from it by presenting the shear depth and variety of the main wellspring of the Sephardic song.

Since the wedding itself lasted many days, the opportunity to include a colorful palette of songs is seized upon on this CD, such that the recording leaves no stone unturned. We’re treated to songs of invitations to the wedding, to those that show off the bride’s trousseau, the bride’s immersion in the ritual bath and the henna night. Some praise the bride’s beauty, while others describe her gifts, clothes or the banquet. There are sung dialogues between the bride and her mother, between the in-laws, teasing songs and even erotic songs, all in all a vault of treasures burst wide open, revealing the most precious expressions that have kept the Sephardic musical tradition alive for centuries.

The CD is accompanied by a 110-page booklet, resplendent with texts, translations and historical photos, making this one of the most important productions of the decade.

Release by Alikobeni, Austria (Import)

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