EAJS Conference Grant Program in Jewish Studies
Report
Ashkenazi Music in France Today: Perspectives, Tradition, Transmission and (Re-)Creation
Paris
20-21 October 2024
The international conference dedicated to Ashkenazi music in France today, in the synagogue and in concert, is an initiative of the European Institute of Jewish Music (Institut Européen des Musiques Juives, Paris – hereafter IEMJ), the Research Institute in Musicology (Institut de recherche en musicology, Paris, a section of the National Centre for Scientific Research – hereafter IReMus) and the Group of Oriental, Slavic and Neo-Hellenic Studies of the University of Strasbourg (GEO), in partnership with the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO, Paris), the MAHJ (Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris), the association Judaïsme en Mouvement (hereafter JEM – Paris) and the association Nitsa (Paris). This conference was made possible thanks to the support of Sorbonne Université, the European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS) and the Fondation Henriette-Halphen (under the aegis of the Fondation du Judaïsme Français).
Members of the organization committee
Dr Alexandre Cerveux (IRHT-CNRS)
Prof. Jérôme Cler (IReMus-Sorbonne Université)
Dr Hervé Roten (director of the IEMJ)
Prof. Michèle Tauber (GEO-Université de Strasbourg)
Conference background
The aim of this conference was to explore Ashkenazi musical practices in contemporary France, focusing on three main areas: synagogal music, Yiddish song and klezmer music. Historically, the term “Ashkenazi” refers to the cultural area of European Jewry, whose ancient centres were located in the Rhine valley, northern France and England. As a result of expulsion and persecution, the so-called Ashkenazi Jewish populations moved to Eastern Europe. Hebrew and Aramaic were their languages of worship and study, while Yiddish was their main language. Today, Ashkenazi identity refers to a myriad of diverse cultural components such as prayer, Hebrew pronunciation, cuisine, music and literature.
Exploring contemporary Ashkenazi musical practices involves identifying the origins and traditions of Ashkenazi musical repertoires and how they are transmitted, created and recreated. These practices and repertoires are part of French musical culture and bear witness to French Jewish history. In this way, their study contributes to the knowledge, understanding and preservation of the intangible Jewish heritage.
However, these practices and repertoires are constantly evolving: in synagogues as well as in concerts, singers and musicians renew and enrich them. This phenomenon tempers the idea of a museumification or folklorization of musical traditions, fueled by nostalgia for a golden age of Ashkenazi Jewish music. Moreover, these practices and repertoires bear the mark of multiple influences and exchanges from all eras. Social networks and streaming music have accelerated this phenomenon, stimulating mutation and cross-fertilization. Klezmer music, for example, feeds the aesthetic research of contemporary musicians who borrow certain elements from it and mix them with other musical styles such as jazz, rock, punk or rap. They produce a non-confessional repertoire that appeals to a wide audience.
For these reasons, this conference brought together academics, musicologists and ethnomusicologists, as well as singers, musicians and other promoters of Ashkenazi musical traditions in France, to reflect on and discuss the concepts of tradition, transmission, innovation and creation. This conference and its combination of scholarly insights and live testimonies was unprecedented. It also paid tribute to the first conference on Jewish music held in Paris in November 1957, organized by Léon Algazi (1890–1971).
The conference took place in Paris on Sunday 20 October at the MAHJ and on Monday 21 October at the INALCO. The first day was devoted to Yiddish song and klezmer music and the second to liturgical music. Both days ended with a concert, of Yiddish and klezmer music on Sunday at the MAHJ, and of liturgical music on Monday at the rue Copernic synagogue, also called Copernic synagogue, the historic siege of the Union Libérale des Juifs de France since 1907.
Detailed programme
The first day of the conference was devoted to Yiddish song and klezmer music in France, with a special interest in song in Yiddish theatre, the revival of Yiddish song since the 1970s, and Yiddish choirs in Paris.
Dr Michèle Fornhoff-Levitt (Université Libre de Bruxelles/EURORBEM, Sorbonne Université) from Belgium opened the morning with a presentation of Yiddish theatre life in Paris between the First and the Second World Wars, when modern Yiddish theatre was at its height, and conceived as a mirror of “Jewishness” (yidishkeyt). Fornhoff-Levitt explained that it featured music in many forms, especially traditional songs and instrumental music that crystallized the identity themes of the diasporic community, but also original compositions by the best international Jewish composers. Fornhoff-Levitt showed how, in this context, music was a vehicle for remembrance, resistance and cultural rebirth.
This presentation was followed by a roundtable discussion on the revival of Yiddish song in France since the 1970s, with musicians Laurent Grynszpan (a Paris-based pianist), Prof. Michèle Tauber (Université de Strasbourg/INALCO) and Talila (alias Eliane Guteville, a Paris-based singer). All three were witnesses to the special atmosphere in Paris and to the “school” of Yiddish song created around Jacques Grober (1951–2006). Grober, a native speaker of Yiddish, wrote many songs in this idiom and contributed to the development and dissemination of the repertoire. They then invited two conductors-composers-arrangers, Jean Golgevit (based in Montpellier) and Jacinta (alias Sofia Jacinta Szlechtman, born in Argentina and based in Paris since the 1970s), to talk about the tradition of Yiddish choirs, past and present. Chaired by Prof. Tauber, their discussion highlighted the role of Eva Golgevit (1912–2016), born in Poland, former member of the Resistance and survivor of Auschwitz, mother of Jean Golgevit, in the transmission of the Yiddish musical heritage in France. This testimony demonstrated better than any other the power of song and music to transmit memories.
Dr Alice Mazen (Sorbonne Université) initiated another roundtable, which gave the floor to Judith Marx (a singer and musician from Paris) and Elsa Signorile (a singer and musician from Rennes), both representatives of the younger generation, on the subject of Yiddish song in the 21st century. Elles témoignent du rôle des femmes dans la promotion de ce répertoire, de leur approche de performance, de leur ouverture aux adaptations modernes d’œuvres du répertoire populaire ou poétique et aux traductions Yiddish du répertoire international. They testified to the interest shown by a wider audience, including in places where Jewish communities are less well represented, such as Brittany.
Their colleague Léa Platini, a musicologist from Marseilles, musician and founder of the band Les Oreilles d’Aman, then read a paper on the practice of klezmer music in France. She spoke about the difficulty of defining klezmer music in France and her decision not to define it, but rather to pass it on and “live” it. After Platini, Denis Cuniot, a klezmer pianist and musicologist from Paris, gave a decisive and very important account of the emergence of so-called “klezmer” music in France from the early 1980s onwards. Since klezmer music was virtually non-existent in the Jewish communities of France – even among Ashkenazi immigrants in the twentieth century – the first, almost underground, and then much more visible emergence of “klezmer” musicians was motivated by an imaginative, much-desired music that triggered musical processes of creation and re-creation. Cuniot also revealed a typology of myths that have permeated the definition and history of klezmer music, promoted in particular by US musicians. After them, a genuine klezmer scene developed in many countries, some of which had no Jewish community.
Dr Alice Mazen, an ethnomusicologist, then presented the results of her recent doctoral research on the specificities of interpretation and appropriation of klezmer music. She defined klezmer music as a musical kaleidoscope that reflects the turbulent history and deep-rooted identity of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. According to Mazen, this music has withstood the vicissitudes of time to emerge in different forms and to constantly reinvent itself. She showed how today’s Parisian musicians have adopted a fusion approach, combining klezmer music with other styles and thus contributing to its constant evolution. Using musical examples and analysis, Mazen demonstrated that, for example, younger klezmer musicians on the French scene have borrowed salsa rhythms in their interpretations of klezmer standards.
Dr Mazen’s presentation was a fitting introduction to the two final discussions she chaired. A first roundtable brought together several teachers and performers of klezmer music: Marthe Desrosières (a teacher at the Maison de la Culture Yiddish and musician), Guillaume Dettmar (a teacher at the Conservatoire d’Orléans), Marine Goldwaser (a musician based in Paris), Léa Platini and Charles Rappoport (a musician an teacher at the École de Musique Ensemble 20e, Paris). They all agreed that the transmission of klezmer music in France is a collective endeavour that takes place both in local institutions, through weekly classes, and in more occasional gatherings, such as courses organized in community centres or master classes. These different teaching frameworks provide a lens to observe klezmer music and provide information about musical reference sources, the place of orality in the transmission process, and the theorization of stylistic characteristics.
The final roundtable dealt with stylistic fusion approaches to the creation of original forms of klezmer music. The term “fusion” was rejected by some of the participants, who preferred the term “borrowing”, thus recalling that klezmer music has always been shaped by external influences. The participants who agreed to reflect on their practices under the musicological expertise of Dr Mazen were David el Shatràn (alias David Pergament, musician, salsa teacher and founder of the association JewSalsa, Paris), David Konopnicki (rock guitarist and composer), Michel Schick (clarinetist and composer) and Pierre Wekstein (musician, composer and director of Klezmer Nova).
A concert in two parts concluded the first day. In the first part, Jacinta (singer and guitarist) and Michèle Tauber (singer) performed a selection of Yiddish songs, some composed by Jacques Grober, but also translated from the international repertoire, as well as French translations of Yiddish songs. In the second part of the concert, the klezmer band Pletzl Bandits played traditional as well as contemporary pieces composed by members of the band. The musicians were Charles Rappoport (violin), Samuel Maquin (clarinet), Adrian Iordan (accordion) and Henry Kisiel (double bass).
The second day of the conference was devoted to liturgical music in Ashkenazi synagogues in France.
The first panel provided a historical framework for reflection on current practices in Ashkenazi synagogues. Dr Alexandre Cerveux read a paper on Jewish ritual and song in Northern France in the Middle Ages. He showed that the Middle Ages, especially from the tenth century onwards, was a period of great creativity in the field of Jewish liturgy. During this period, the formulary of canonical prayers derived from the Talmud was enriched and paraliturgical poetry (piyutim) flourished. The peculiarities in the development and formulation of both prayers and paraliturgical poetry help to define the various liturgical traditions or rites. Cerveux focused in particular on the Old French rite or Nusah Tsarfat, which belongs to the group of Ashkenazi rites but has its own characteristics. Cerveux showed that after the final expulsion of the Jews from the kingdom of France in 1394, the Old French rite survived practically in the liturgy of three Piedmontese communities, in Asti, Fossano and Moncalvo, where French Jews settled. Their liturgical tradition evolved into the so-called APAM rite, a fusion of Old French, Ashkenazi and Italian elements. The APAM rite was used until the 1950s.
The second panellist, Dr Gérard Ganvert (Sorbonne Université), presented his research on synagogal music in Paris at the time of the first consistorial temple (1822–1874). After tracing a series of developments in French and Parisian Judaism from the Napoleonic era to the beginnings of the Third Republic, Ganvert described the various phases of the establishment of synagogal music known as “consistorial” from the time of the first Consistorial Temple (1822–1874). This typical repertoire was consolidated by hazzanim such as Israel Lovy (1773–1832) and Samuel Naumbourg (1815–1880) and enriched by other cultural promoters, both Jewish and non-Jewish (especially organists).
Dr Hervé Roten rounded off this historical overview with a presentation on the Consistorial rite from the inauguration of the Grande Synagogue de La Victoire (1874) to the present day. On 9 September 1874, the inauguration of the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire marked a new stage in the development of the French Ashkenazi rite. Over the course of 150 years, the musical practices of the consistorial rite evolved in line with the demographic, sociological and religious changes in the French Jewish community. His presentation traced the musical history of the Synagogue de la Victoire and recalled the personalities who were its main “architects”, such as Samuel David (1836–1895), Jules Frank (1858–1941) and Léon Algazi (1890-1971). A few portraits of singers, such as Shalom Berlinski (1918–2008) and Adolphe Attia (still active), completed this musical panorama.
The second session was devoted to the Jewish chanting tradition, defined as “chant à voix nue” in reference to the work of Dr Annie Labussière. In this session, Chana Englard, ethnomusicologist and choreographer from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, spoke of her pioneering work on the Alsatian Jewish singing tradition. Englard described her research and recording work in Alsatian communities in the 1980s, a time when the synagogues of small rural communities were faced with the relocation of Jewish communities to larger cities, losing their own local traditions. Englard’s presentation was wisely illustrated with some of the recordings she made, the wealth of which is now available on the National Library of Israel’s Sound Archives website. The Chana Englard Collection now offers future musicologists the opportunity to catalogue and research this specific singing tradition.
The culmination of the morning’s presentations was the keynote lecture by Judit Niran Frigyesi, Professor Emerita of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Bar-Ilan University (Israel). Frigyesi is an expert on the Jewish chanting tradition. Her lecture was devoted to the concept of nusah, a term generally used to refer to the different Jewish liturgical traditions. Among Eastern European Jews, the term nusah has taken on a specific musical meaning. In the oral tradition studied by Prof. Frigyesi, nusah did not mean only, or even primarily, the traditional melody of a prayer with variations (as the term is often used in cantorial schools). For her, nusah is a system, or even a system of systems, a complex framework of sound with many facets, as complex as a language. She emphasized that the use of this system also implied a vision of the world: nusah corresponded to a field of representations and metaphors to define one’s attitude to prayer and learning.
In the afternoon, two roundtables brought together performers and promoters of liturgical music. The first roundtable, chaired by Dr Cerveux, was devoted to cantorial practices according to different streams of Ashkenazi denomination. Cantors and rabbis from different backgrounds agreed to speak about their own practices, including Hazzan Jonathan Blum (Alsatian tradition), Hazzan Emmanuel Chaze (Paris Consistory tradition), Rabbi François Garaï (Reform tradition) and Rabbi Haïm Nissenbaum (Lubavitch tradition). The discussion focused on three themes: tradition, specificity and innovation. The aim of this roundtable was to highlight the specificities of their cantorial practices, which all stem from the same root, but are marked by differences of a theological, philosophical and liturgical nature. These differences are reflected in the organization and formulation of the liturgy and, consequently, in singing.
The final roundtable discussion looked at the future of Ashkenazi liturgical music in France, with particular emphasis on transmission, training and evolution. The panellists were Dr Alexandre Cerveux (musical coordinator of the École rabbinique de Paris), Dr Bruno Fraitag (musical director at JEM), Dr Hector Sabo (choirmaster and music teacher at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg) and Emmanuelle Souffan (organist and choirmaster of the Synagogue de la Victoire). All the speakers play an active role in disseminating the repertoire of Ashkenazi music, both as performers and as promoters.
The second day ended with a concert of liturgical music at the Copernic Synagogue (rue Copernic, Paris). Under the title “Great melodies of the Ashkenazi liturgical year”, the mixed choir, Maxime Cohen (bass soloist), Tristan Poirier (organist), all conducted by Didier Seutin, performed arias and polyphonies from important moments of the liturgical year, from Rosh haShana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simhat Torah, Pesah and Shavuot. This concert was a journey through time and space, with works by Samuel Naumbourg, Samuel David, Jules Franck, Louis Lewandowski, Salomon Sulzer and Joachim Havard de la Montagne (former organist of the Copernic Synagogue).
Event assessment
The conference was publicized through various channels, including the institutional websites of the IEMJ, INALCO and the CNRS, the website of the Société des Études Juives, and Jewish cultural media such as Akadem and Radio-J. In addition to the thirty active participants, the event was particularly well attended. For organizational and security reasons, we set up an online registration system, which gave us some figures:
- 200 people registered for the first day, the maximum capacity;
- 120 people registered for the second day.
The entire conference was videotaped and, thanks to the partnership between the MAHJ, INALCO, IEMJ and Akadem (the leading digital platform for the dissemination of Jewish culture in France), the lectures and round tables will be made available online (except in a few cases where the speakers do not wish this). At this stage, there are no plans to publish the proceedings: some presentations, such as the round tables, do not lend themselves to publication. However, access to the videos, including those of the concerts, will give an idea of the content of the contributions, the discussions and the general atmosphere over the two days.
The organizing committee is satisfied with the way the conference was run, with the variety and consistency of the contributions and with the originality of the approach, which brought together academics and other types of profile. Each of the contributions highlighted an aspect of these traditions shared by the participants. They are often responsible for their promotion at an individual level in the professional circles in which they are active. The two days thus provided a common vocabulary with which to reflect on these practices and gave substance to certain concepts that are commonly used but whose origin and meaning are often ignored. The innovative nature of the contributions, reflecting the latest developments in the study of Ashkenazi music in France and beyond, went hand in hand with the richness and creativity of contemporary artistic approaches. Thus, in addition to the scholarly approach of a conference devoted to Ashkenazi musical practices in France, the contribution of those who live and perform them added depth to the subject.
In 1945, the French thinker Edmond Fleg called for the “spiritual reconstruction of Israel and the world” and, together with Léon Algazi, initiated a conference of French-speaking Jewish intellectuals, from which the conference on music organized by Algazi in 1957 grew. In 2024, at a particularly difficult time for many Jews and in the current political context, the organizing committee has more than once questioned the advisability of maintaining this event and the need to guarantee the safety of all participants. Of course, every precaution was taken. The success of these two days has amply demonstrated their usefulness. In addition to deep reflection and the enjoyment of live music during the concerts, they highlighted an intangible aspect of French Jewish culture: these musical traditions, which are fragile, precious and therefore worthy of interest, reach an audience far beyond the community.