Ottoman Melodies Hebrew Hymns: A 16th Century Cross-Cultural Adventure (Bibliotheca Orientalis Hungarica)

by Andreas Tietze, Joseph Yahalom

English, Hebrew, Turkish

207 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1995

Reviews

[Ercan Akyol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not even heard the name of Israel Najara before reading Tietze and Yahalom's mutual study. Their work showed me that he was a distinctive Jewish poet, well-versed preacher and rabbi in the 17th century Ottoman Empire; and his distinctiveness was a result from the traditional Jewish hymns/poetry's transformation executed by him into a relatively new one as blending it with popular Turkish music and poetry. The influence exerted by "the foreign" model made the sacred Hebrew poem fraught with the spirit of the Turkish original, so much so that the metaphors, images and idioms merge together almost beyond recognition. From my standpoint I find these relations between two contrasting cultural spheres, i.e. those of Muslim and Jewish, profoundly valuable. Because, much of what we know about these social intercourses in premodern era is merely a crumb of information. But, thanks to the new recreation and leisure habits in the related period, one can find some clues among those social milieus. Of the spaces rendered these contacts possible, the coffeehouses and public taverns are seen by the authors as transmitters of such cross-cultural exchanges. Turning now to the topic, it makes people amazingly smile to observe the stanzas of noted poets such as Necati Bey, Yahya Bey, Fuzuli, Zati, Kadı Burhaneddin, Kayıkçı Kul Mustafa, Nesimi etc. in hymns created by Najara.