It has been said that you can tell a lot about a culture by its music. The history, the people, and the culture's stories are all revealed in some way or another by the types of music the people play and listen to. Most cultures have evolved a unique music based on their language and the cadences that develop from its sounds.
So what does that say about a culture that has a music sung in a multitude of languages with a variety of musical styles? Hungarian, Bulgarian, Russian, Polish, and Romanian are all languages of Eastern Europe, and Jews have lived in all those countries and many more besides.
The songs of the Jewish people from the time of the Romans forward have come to take on the flavours of the countries that would have them for any extended time. Even those songs that are sung in Yiddish or Ladino (the language of the Sephardic Jews of Spain before they were expelled in the 16th century) bear resemblances to the music of the countries they were written in.
Given all of that, one could be forgiven for thinking that Jewish music would be more indicative of its country of origin, rather than being unique to the Jewish people. While it is true that some of their music is sung in the language of the native country, they have a flavour that sets them apart from other songs originating in those countries.
This becomes very apparent when you listen to and watch the DVD made from the PBS television program Kitka & Davka In Concert: Old and New World Jewish Music. This is a recording of a concert that was given by the two groups and their special guest, trumpeter and vocalist Steve Saxon, at the Temple Sinai in Oakland, California.
Kitka is an all-female vocal ensemble made up of women from all ethnic backgrounds who share an interest in the music of Eastern Europe. Kitka, a Bulgarian and Macedonian word meaning bouquet, was formed in 1979 as an amateur choir. Over the years they evolved into a professional ensemble with an international reputation for their performances of traditional Jewish songs from Eastern Europe and Spain.
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