a r t i s t : Al Darwish-Hesperion XXI-La Capella Reial de Catalunya
t i t l e : Jerusalem
d a t e : 2008
l a b e l : Alia Vox
g e n r e : Classical
r l s. d a t e : Dec/2008
t r a c k s : 52
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 193,2 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
JERUSALE'N
La ciudad de las dos paces
L. Elmalich, M. Shanin Khalil, R. Amyan, B. Olavide, Ll.
Vilamajo', M. Mauillon
Y. Dalal, G. Mouradian, O. Bashir, A. Lawrence-King
LA CAPELLA REIAL DE CATALUNYA ò AL-DARWISH
HESPE`RION XXI
Montserrat Figueras
Direction : Jordi Savall
Reference AVSA9863
& . Recording Date and Place : 2007-2008 Colle'giale de
Cardona (Catalogne). LÆe'glise de Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains.
LÆArsenal de Metz. LÆAbbaye de Fontfroide
& . Available format : SACD hybrid stereo & multichannel
& . Booklet languages : English, Spanish, French, German,
Italian, Catalan, Hebrew, Arab.
& . Date of publication : 27/11/2008
CD 1
1 Fanfare of Jericho, 1200 av. B.C.
I Heavenly Peace: The Prophets of the Apocalypse and of the
Last Judgment
2 The Sibylline Oracles (3rd century B.C.) û Jewish sources,
Aramaic music
3 Introduction (Ney & percussion)
4 The Koran: Bismi Al.la` ar Rahman (7th Century) û Fatihah
Sura I, 2-7. Sufi sources
5 Postludium (qanun)
6 Revelation VI, 12-3 Audi pontus (12th century) (Las Huelgas
mss.)
Corresponding to the Cathar Gospel of Pseudo-John V, 4
7 Postludium (medieval harp)
II Jerusalem, a Jewish city, 1000 B.C. - A.D. 70
King David makes Jerusalem the capital of the unified kingdom
of Judah and Israel
8 Shofars call
9 Prayer for Jerusalem
10 Instrumental dance. Liberation of the city by Maccabeans,
164 B.C.
11 The Peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122) - The Psalms of King
David (10th Century B.C.)
12 Rabbi Akiva goes to Jerusalem. Talmud, Makkot 24b
13 Song of Exile (Psalm 137, 1-6). Destruction of the Temple
and Diaspora, A.D. 70
14 Instrumental lament (shofars)
III Jerusalem, a Christian city, 326 - 1244
15 Stavrotheotokia (Hymn to the Virgin at the foot of the
Cross)
Attributed to Emperor Leo VI, 886-912
Queen Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine is in
Jerusalem, A.D. 326
16 Fanfare ôPax in nomine Domineö
17 Pope Urban II, First call to the Crusade, 1095
Recited text in French
18 CrusadersÆ song: Pax in nomine Domini
Marcabru (1100-1150) û 1st Crusade
19 CrusadersÆ song: Chevalier, mult estes guaritz, 1146
Anonymous 12th Century û 2nd Crusade
20 Conductus : O totius Asie û Anonymous (s. XIII)
21 Planctus ½ Pax in Nomine Domini ╗
The Crusaders lose Jerusalem to Saladin
Instrumental
IVa Jerusalem, a city of pilgrimage, 383 - 1326
22 The Dome of the Rock û Ibn Battuta (1304-ca.1377)
23 Zionida: Beautiful city, delight of the world
Judah Ha-Levy (1075-1141)
CD 2
IVb Jerusalem, a city of pilgrimage, 383 - 1326 (continued)
1 Cantiga de Santa Maria : O ffondo do mar tan cha^o
Alfonso X the Wise (1121-1284) CSM383
V Jerusalem, an Arabic city and an Ottoman city, 1244-1917
Arabic city, 1244 - 1516
2 Prelude (Oud)
3 The Koran, Sura XVII, 1- Mohammed ascends to heaven from the
Temple Mount
4 Danse of the Soma
5 Sallatu Allah û Arabic tradition
Ottoman city, 1517 - 1917
6 Makam Uza"l Sakil ôTurnaö
Ottoman mss. of Kantemiroglu (17th century)
7 Suleyman the MagnificentÆs dream, 1520 - Ottoman legend
Recited text in Turkish
8 WarriorÆs march (Anonymous Ottoman)
The Ottoman Conquest of Jerusalem, 1517
VI Jerusalem, a Land of Refuge and Exile, 15th - 20th
centuries
9 Palestina hermoza y Santa - Anonymous Sephardic (oral
tradition, Sarajevo)
10 Palestinian Lament - Anonymous (oral tradition)
11 Lament for the City of Ani - Anonymous (oral tradition)
12 El male rahamim (Hymn to the victims of Auschwitz), 1941
Historical recording by Shlomo Katz, 1950
13 Funeral March
Instrumental
VII Earthly peace: a duty and a utopia
A plea for peace
14 Instrumental Dialogue
15 A plea for peace in Arabic
16 Adonay Prayer for peace in Hebrew
17 A plea for peace in Armenian
18 Da Pacem (Gregorian)
Dialogue of songs
19 Apo xeno meros (in Greek) - Anonym (Oral Tradition)
20 Ghazal (in Arabic)
21 Ghazal (in Hebrew)
22 Ghazal (Palestine)
23 Siente Hermosa (ladino)
24 Apo xeno meros (in Greek) Gregorian Chorus
25 Durme, hermoza donzella (ladino)
26 Ghazal (in Arabic, Greek & Hebrew)
27 Ghazal (instrumental, Morocco)
28 Final Ensemble (tutti)
29 Final fanfare ôAgainst the barriers of the Spiritö
Jordi Savall, 2008
JERUSALEM, City of the two peaces. The music of the history of
Jerusalem
One of the etymologies tracing the name of the city of
Jerusalem translates its Hebrew name as ôthe city of the two
peacesö, in what is a clear metaphorical reference both to
ôheavenly peaceö and ôearthly peaceö, the former proclaimed
and promised by the prophets who lived in or visited the city,
and the latter sought by the political leaders who have
governed the city throughout its five thousand years of
documented existence.
Sanctified by the three great monotheistic religions of the
Mediterranean, Jerusalem soon became the focus of prayers and
longing. Desired by all, she has been the goal, aim and
destination of pilgrims of all persuasions who flock to her
gates in peace, but also the objective of soldiers and armies
in pursuit of war, who have besieged and burned the city,
bringing ruin and devastation more than forty times throughout
her long history.
Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, in the company of
Jewish, Christian and Muslim musicians from Israel, Palestine,
Greece, Syria, Armenia, Turkey, England, France, Spain, Italy,
Belgium, as well as their own ensembles Hespe`rion XXI and La
Capella Reial de Catalunya, portray the chequered fortunes of
Jerusalem û a holy city or a city bedevilled û in a frieze of
texts and music evoking her protagonists. Jewish, Arab and
Christian music from ancient times to the present day
highlights Jerusalem as a city that looks forward to the
possibility of achieving the two peaces proclaimed in its
name.
Manuel Forcano, 2008
*
THE POWER OF MUSIC
This project was first conceived in 2007, when we were invited
by La Cite' de la Musique to prepare a new project (for April,
2008) based on a series of concerts on the theme of the three
major monotheistic religions. After thinking it over for a few
days, we realized that Jerusalem could provide the ideal
subject, one which afforded us the opportunity to a create a
powerful and beautiful evocation of both the grandeur and the
folly that make up the history of a city, with all the complex
problems of a place which, even today, continues to mark the
limits and weaknesses of our civilization, particularly amid
the search for a peace that is just and valid for all, and the
difficulty in reaching agreement between East and West on the
very principles of the true spiritual dimension of humanity.
At the outset, it seemed an enormous and almost impossible
challenge to evoke some of the key moments in the history and
music of a city like Jerusalem, which has existed for more
than 3000 years. Indeed, the space available in a discographic
edition, even one that is extraordinary compared with the
usual standard, is still very limited for a booklet of more
than 400 pages, translated into eight languages, accompanying
two SACDs of 78 minutes each.
From the very beginning, Montserrat Figueras, Manuel Forcano
and I not only realized the need to evoke the cityÆs history,
which is unique in terms of its universal repercussions, but
also that this evocation, which at the same time constituted a
heartfelt tribute, would only be possible if it took into
account the essential testimonies of each of the main peoples,
cultures and religions that have shaped the city throughout
its history, a history crammed full of events that have always
been intensely dramatic and marked by conflict. History and
mythology, legend and reality, song and music û everything in
this universe seems to be synthesized through ôthe power of
musicö, the essential elements of human civilization
concentrated in a city which has always been a sacred,
mythical place for the three major monotheistic religions.
In approaching this project, we had to assemble a group of
musicians from different traditions representing the main
cultures and countries that have played an influential role in
the events of both the past and the present. That is why, in
addition to our usual musicians from Spain, France, England,
Belgium and Greece, who make up the team of vocal and
instrumental soloists of Hespe`rion XXI and La Capella Reial
de Catalunya, we invited a number of Jewish and Palestinian
singers and instrumentalists from Israel, together with others
from Iraq, Armenia, Turkey, Morocco and Syria, who have
trained and specialized in extremely ancient musical cultures
that have often been handed down via the oral tradition. It
was essential to present a meaningful selection of the various
musical traditions peculiar to the peoples who, throughout the
long history of Jerusalem, have peopled the city with their
dreams, their tragedies, their hopes and their misfortunes.
This selection would not have been possible without the
numerous important works of historical, musical and
organological research carried out by such eminent figures as
A. Z. Idelsohn, Amnon Shiloah, Samuel G. Armistead, Isaac
Levy, Rodolphe dÆErlanger, Charles Fonton and R. Lachmann, in
the case of eastern music (Jewish, Arab and Ottoman), H. J. W.
Tillyard, in the case of Byzantine music, and Pierre Aubry and
Gordon Athol Anderson in respect of music from the Crusades,
and, of course, the essential contribution made by all the
musicians, singers and others whose talent and experience have
been decisive in bringing this project to fruition. In this
context, I am thinking particularly of Montserrat Figueras,
Manuel Forcano, Yair Dalal, Lior Elmalich, the musicians of
the group Al-Darwish, Gaguik Mouradian, Razmik Amyan, Dimitris
Psonis, Driss El Maloumi, Mutlu Torun, Omar Bashir, Begon~a
Olavide, Pedro Estevan, Jean-Pierre Canihac and the ensemble
of ôtrumpets of Jerichoö, Andrew Lawrence-King and all the
vocalists and instrumentalists of Hespe`rion XXI and La
Capella Reial de Catalunya. Never have I been involved in a
project in which the personal commitment of all those taking
part was so crucial and decisive.
Music opens a window suffused with emotion and light on
legends, beliefs and events which constitute a fabulous
distillation of life, culture and spirituality in symbiosis
with what is happening in the world around us. Profoundly
influenced by the historical presence of the major
monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the
history and musical traditions of Jerusalem are the reflection
of a unique experience in which the most extreme wars and
conflicts go hand in hand with some of the most sublime and
spiritual deeds in the history of mankind.
In order to give shape to such a complex musical and
historical programme, it was necessary to find an original
structure inspired in the very sources of the subject
presented here divided into seven chapters, each one
containing key moments in the cityÆs history. Three central
chapters comprise a selection of the most representative music
of the three main periods relevant to the three monotheistic
religions.
The Jewish city is recalled, from the time of its foundation
until the destruction of the temple, by the evocative sound of
the shofar, a selection of the most beautiful psalms of David,
as preserved in the ancient tradition of the Jews of southern
Morocco, an instrumental dance and a text by Rabbi Akiba
recited in Hebrew.
The Christian city is evoked from the arrival in Jerusalem in
326 of Queen Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, until
the Crusaders were defeated when Saladin conquered the city,
This period is represented first by one of the earliest
Crusade songs, attributed to Emperor Leo VI (886-912), which
is followed by the terrible call to holy war in 1095 by Pope
Urban II, recited in French. The power of music deployed in
the service of war is illustrated by three of the most famous
and beautiful Crusader songs. The defeat of 1244 is recalled
in a brief improvisation on the song Pax in nomine Domine.
Our evocation of the Arab and Ottoman city, which, in the case
of the Arab period, stretched from 1244 to 1516, is effected
by improvisations on the Oud, the song based on Sura 17: 1,
relating the ascension of the prophet Mohammed into heaven
from the Mosque of the Rock, and is completed by a sama dance
(from the Suffi tradition) and the song Salatu Allah. The
Ottoman period, from 1516 to 1917, is represented by the
makkam Uza"l Sakil ôTurnaö from the Kantemiroglu manuscript
(17th century), the recreation of the legend of the dream of
Suleyman the Magnificent (1520), recited in Turkish, and one
of the finest Ottoman marches of the 16th century.
A fourth chapter is devoted to Jerusalem as a ôcity of
pilgrimageö, with three representative pilgrim songs. The
first is on texts by Rabbi Judah ben Samuel Halevi, (a
Sephardic rabbi, philosopher, physician and poet born in
Tudela, in the emirate of Saragossa, in 1085, known as the
Cantor of Zion); the second is a Cantiga by King Alfonso X the
Wise (1221-1284), narrating one of the miracles of the Virgin
Mary performed in favour of a woman on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. Finally, the third is on a text by the most famous
of Arab travellers, the Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta
(Tangiers, 1304 - ? 1377).
A fifth chapter is devoted to Jerusalem ôLand of refuge and
exileö, with two moving songs of exile and two songs of
refuge, (a song about Palestine, from the Sephardic tradition,
a Palestinian ôlamentö, a song on the theme of Armenian
refugees in memory of the genocide of 1915, and a heart-
rending Ashkenazy song on the genocide perpetrated by the
Nazis during the Second World War).
The final two chapters, completing the seven, refer to one of
the etymologies accounting for the name of the city of
Jerusalem, according to which the cityÆs Hebrew name is
translated as ôthe city of the two peacesö, a clear
metaphorical reference to both ôheavenly peaceö and ôearthly
peaceö. The heavenly peace which serves as our prelude was
proclaimed and promised by the prophets who lived in or
visited Jerusalem, and it is evoked here by a Sibylline Oracle
from a Jewish source dating back to the third century BC, an
Arab Sufi song based on Sura I: 27, and a song on the Cathar
Gospel of Pseudo John V: 4, contained in the famous manuscript
of the Convent of Las Huelgas (12th century).
By way of conclusion, we evoke ôearthly peaceö, a peace sought
after by the political leaders who have governed the city over
the five thousand years and more of its recorded history. We
have symbolized that peace through Arab, Jewish, (Orthodox)
Armenian and (Catholic) Latin ôvotive pleas for peaceö, as
well as a melody handed down by oral tradition that has been
kept alive to the present day in almost all Mediterranean
cultures. The melody is sung individually by all the
participants in Greek, Arabic (from Morocco), Hebrew, Arabic
(from Palestine), Spanish, again in Greek (by a vocal
ensemble), Ladino (a lullaby), by three voices (singing in
Greek, Hebrew and Arabic), and is then performed in an
Oriental instrumental version and, finally, it is sung by all
the performers together in a choral version in which the
languages are superimposed on one another, in a symbolic
demonstration of the fact that, far from being a utopia, union
and harmony are a reality that is attainable if we allow
ourselves to experience and feel the power of music to the
full. Rounding off this optimistic final expression of
optimism, the ôtrumpets of Jerichoö return, but this time they
do so to remind us that human beings are still spiritually cut
off from one another by too many walls, walls that must first
be broken down in our hearts before they can be dismantled by
peaceful means in the world around us.
In antiquity, the power of music was ever-present. Of all
historical sources, the Bible provides the most important and
richest vein in terms of our knowledge of music in ancient
times. Music and dance played an important role not only in
everyday life, but also in religious ceremonies and in battle.
Indeed, it is in one of the earliest legends, in the story of
the trumpets and the battle of Jericho, that we find a
testimony to the power of music. Rather than music in the
strict sense, it refers to intense, strident dissonances
produced by several hundred instruments, so powerful that they
brought the walls tumbling down.
From the very beginning, we felt that one of the most ancient
instruments still extant, the shofar or ramÆs horn of Abraham,
must have played a crucial role in that battle, alongside the
ancient Oriental trumpets which are today known as anafirs.
Our initial hypothesis was confirmed during our research when
we read the account given by Abbot Nicholas of Thingeyrar of
the Benedictine monastery of Thingeyrar, in Iceland. Abbot
Nicholas travelled to the Holy Land four or six years after
the composition of the Crusader song Chevalier mult estes
guaritz (dated 1146), where he found the trumpets of Jericho
and the shofars, together with the rod of Moses (mentioned in
this song), in a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael in the
Bucoleon Palace in Constantinople. This account is confirmed
in the inventory of Anthony, archbishop of Novgorod, who says
that it was kept between one of the trumpets of Jericho and
the ramÆs horn of Abraham (Riant, Exuviae
Constantinopolitanae, Geneva, 1878). It is impossible to
define any particular notes in the score we have devised for
this fanfare, since each instrument had its own distinct
pitch. It is therefore an entirely random construction and
layering of sounds, taking into account the characteristic
language of these primitive instruments, built up on the basis
of common rhythms and dynamics which, although individually
precise, join together in a completely free fashion. The sound
produced by the 14 instruments and the drums would need to be
multiplied 30 or 50-fold in order to get some idea of the
sound effect produced by the legendary trumpets of Jericho.
Yet another example of the power of music could not be further
removed from the idea of violent sound. Instead of sounds that
are capable of shattering material objects, this time it is a
case of sounds overwhelming us with the profound emotional and
spiritual force of a sung prayer. As he was about to be
executed in Auschwitz, in 1941, Shlomo Katz, one of the
Romanian Jews who had been condemned to death, requested
permission to sing the song for the dead El male rahamim. The
beauty, the emotion and the manner of singing this prayer for
the dead so impressed and moved the officer in charge of the
execution that he spared the manÆs life and let him escape
from the camp. The recording that we reproduce, made some
years after the event, constitutes an exceptional historical
document in terms of the experience it records, as well as
being a tribute to the victims and a prayer for all those who
died in the camps of horror (recording on the CD accompanying
H. RotenÆs publication on Les Musiques Liturgiques Jui"ves,
Paris, 1998). Now that we comprehend the full truth of Elias
CanettiÆs words when he wrote that ômusic is the true living
history of humankind, we yield to it without resistance
because what it says relates to our feelings; without it, we
would be left with only fragmentsö.
Finally, from the thousand and one different stages in the
rich history of Jerusalem, we have selected those that we felt
to be the most significant, illustrating them through song,
music and key texts, the whole forming a multicultural fresco
which proposes something more than just a recording or concert
programme. Music becomes the indispensable means of achieving
a genuine intercultural dialogue between human beings from
very different nations and religions, but who nevertheless
share a common language of music, spirituality and beauty.
JORDI SAVALL
Sa~o Paulo, 16th September, 2008
Translated by Jacqueline Minett
_______________________________________________________________________
Cd1
01-I - La paix cΘleste - les prophΘties de l'apocalypse [01:33]
et du jugement dernier - Fanfare de Jericho
02-Les oracles sybillins [08:20]
03-Le Coran- Bismi al lα ar Rahman [01:35]
04-Le Coran- Bismi al lα ar Rahman [01:04]
05-Le Coran- Bismi al lα ar Rahman [01:05]
06-Apocalypse VI, 12-3- Audi pontus [04:33]
07-Apocalypse VI, 12-3- Audi pontus [01:18]
08-II - JΘrusalem, ville juive, 1000 av.JC - 70 ap.JC - [01:00]
Psaume 121
09-Psaume 121 [05:07]
10-Danse instrumentale [02:59]
11-La paix de JΘrusalem (psaume 122) [05:45]
12-Rabbi Akiba va α JΘrusalem [01:38]
13-Chant de l'exile (psaume 137, I-6) [04:46]
14-Destruction du Temple et Diaspora, 70 ap.JC [01:03]
15-III - JΘrusalem, ville chrΘtienne, 326 - 1244 - [03:25]
Stravrotheotokia (Planctus de la Vierge)
16-Fanfare - 1er appel du pape Urbain II α la Croisade, [01:04]
1095
17-Fanfare - 1er appel du pape Urbain II α la Croisade, [02:17]
1095
18-Chanson de croisade- Pax in nomine Domini [05:54]
19-Chanson de croisade- Chevalier, mult estes guaritz [06:56]
20-Conductus- O totius Asie Gloria, Regis Alexandrie [02:21]
Filla
21-Planctus pour la perte de JΘrusalem [01:55]
22-IVa - JΘrusalem, ville de pΘlerinage, 326 - 1244 - Le [05:07]
D⌠me du Rocher du Temple
23-Sionide- Belle citΘ, joie de l'univers [07:44]
Cd2
01-IVb - suite - Cantiga de Santa Maria- O ffondo do Mar [08:17]
tan chΓo
02-V - JΘrusalem, ville arabe et ottomane, 1244 - 1917 - [03:16]
Ville arabe 1244-1516 - PrΘlude (Oud et improvisation)
03-Mahomet va au ciel depuis le Rocher du Temple [01:38]
04-Danse du Soma [05:11]
05-Sallatu Allah [06:29]
06-Ville ottomane, 1517-1917 - Makam Uzael Sakil 'Turna' [03:37]
07-Le songe de Soliman le Magnifique, 1520 [02:13]
08-Marche guerriΦre [04:45]
09-VI - JΘrusalem, terre d'asile et d'exil, XVe - XXe [07:40]
siΦcle - Palestina hermoza y Santa
10-Plainte Palestine [03:53]
11-Lamentation sur la ville d'Ani, Plainte armΘnienne [03:19]
12-El male rahamin (Chant aux morts d'Auschwitz) [04:40]
13-El male rahamin (Chant aux morts d'Auschwitz) [01:15]
14-VII - La paix terrestre- un espoir et un devoir - [01:30]
Voeux de paix, dialogue instrumental
15-VII - La paix terrestre- un espoir et un devoir - [00:38]
Voeux de paix (en Arabe)
16-VII - La paix terrestre- un espoir et un devoir - [00:35]
Voeux de paix (en HΘbreu) Adonay
17-VII - La paix terrestre- un espoir et un devoir - [01:13]
Voeux de paix (en ArmΘnien)
18-VII - La paix terrestre- un espoir et un devoir - [00:54]
Voeux de paix (en Latin) Da Pacem
19-Apo xeno meros (en Grec) [01:10]
20-Ghazali (en Arabe) [00:44]
21-Ghazali (en HΘbreu) [00:44]
22-Ghazali (Palestine) [00:40]
23-Siente Hermosa (en Ladino) [00:44]
24-Apo xeno meros (en Grec) [01:41]
25-Durme, hermoza donzella (en Ladino) [01:24]
26-Ghazali (en Arabe, Grec & HΘbreu) [03:03]
27-Ghazali (instrumental, Maroc) [00:44]
28-Ensemble final, tutti [00:55]
29-Fanfare finale ' Contre les barriΦres de l'esprit' [01:30]
-------
152:5