Greeted with smiles : Bukharian Jewish music and musicians in New York / Evan Rapport.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rapport, Evan, author.

Series:

American musicspheres

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews, Bukharan--Music--History and criticism.

Jews, Bukharan.

Jews--New York (State)--New York--Music--History and criticism.

Jews.

Jewish musicians--New York (State)--New York.

Jewish musicians.

Music--New York (State)--New York--History and criticism.

Music.

New York (State)--New York.

Physical Description:

xxv, 227 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2014]

Summary:

As the Soviet Union Stood on the Brink of Collapse, thousands of Bukharian Jews left their homes from across the predominantly Muslim cities of Central Asia, to reestablish their lives in the United States, Israel, and Europe. Today, about 3,200 Bukharian Jews reside in New York City, settled into close-knit communities and existing as a quintessential American immigrant group. For Bukharian immigrants, music is an essential part of their communal self-definition, and musicians frequently act as cultural representatives for the group as a whole. Greeted with Smiles: Bukharian Jewish Music and Musicians in New York explores the circumstances facing new American immigrants, using the music of the Bukharian Jews to gain entrance into their community and their culture. Author Evan Rapport investigates the transformation of Bukharian identity through an examination of corresponding changes in its music, focusing on three of those distinct but overlapping reportoires-maqom (classical or "heavy" music), Jewish religious music, and popular party (or "light") music. Drawing upon interviews, participant observation, and music lessons. Rapport interprets the persona perspectives of musicians who serve as community leaders and representatives. By adapting strategies acquired as an ethno religious minority among Central Asian Muslim neighbors, Bukharian musicians have adjusted their musical repertoire in their new American home. The result is the creation of a distinct Bukharian Jewish American identity their musical activities are changing the city's cultural landscape while providing for an understanding of the cultural implications of Bukharian diaspora. Greeted with Smiles is sure to be an essential text for ethnomusicologists and scholars of Jewish and Central Asian music and culture, Jewish-Muslim interaction, and diasporic communities. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Performing Bukharian Jewish History: Ilyos Mallayev's Play Levicha Hofiz 21

Remembering Old Bukhara 21

Vestiges of Soviet Central Asia in Levicha Hofiz 27

Levicha Hofiz and New York 31

2 Adapting Bukharian Jewish Musical Life to Multicultural New York 34

From Melting Pot to Mosaic Ideologies among Jewish Americans 36

Jewish Multiculturalism and Bukharian Jews 41

Ethnic Music in Multicultural New York 46

3 Maqom: Bukharian Jewish Classical Music 47

Defining the Maqom Repertoire 51

Canonical Shashmaqom Editions and National Questions 64

Maqom on the World Music Stage 69

Maqom and Intercultural Encounters between Jews and Muslims 79

Maqom and Intracultural Jewish Encounters 83

The State of Maqom Transmission in New York 86

Updating the Classical Repertoire 90

4 Religious Repertoire: "Like Mushrooms after the Rain" 96

Defining the Religious Repertoire 98

Toward Jewish Centers 109

Toward Bukharian Jewish Distinctiveness 115

Bukharian Diasporic Consciousness: Combining Senses of Belonging and Otherness 122

Religious Repertoire as Bukharian Ethnic Music 126

5 Party Music: Expressing Cosmopolitanism 133

Defining the Party Repertoire 135

Cosmopolitanism and Bukharian Jewish Identity 142

A Generational Crossroads 146

6 Ziyorat 153

Constant Upheaval and the Impact of Globalization 156

Commemorating Loss, Performing Diaspora 158

Intracommunity Connections and Tensions 160

At the Periphery of the Periphery 166

Further Cosmopolitanism 168.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references, discography and index.

ISBN:

9780190223137

0190223138

9780199379033

0199379033

OCLC:

872382274