Saturday, 27 March 2004

Sephardic Jews in Turkey Interesting article I found on the web regarding Sephardic Jews in Turkey. Our story begins in March, 1492, when after the fall of Granada which marked the end of the Reconquista, the Catholic monarchs of Spain, Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon, together with their fanatical prime minister Torquemada, decided to send all the Jews who refused to be converted into exile.  Approximately 200,000 Spanish Jews were exiled towards the north of Europe, and also spread out in branches throughout the Mediterranean area. It is of course, quite difficult to estimate the exact number of refugees in every country but according to some historians about 93,000 Jews came to the Ottoman Empire. This seems to somewhat dispute what Paco says in the interview regarding the influence of Sephardic music on Flamenco. If 200,000 Spanish Jews were exiled at the end of the 15th century, how could they influence Flamenco that much? However, it is possible that a large enough group of Sephardic Jews remained in Spain at the time, and maybe met with other persecuted peoples like the Gypsys and the Arabs. I think it is highly likely that Flamenco started at the cultural intersection of these three ethnic groups. 7:42:28 PM    comment []; Interview w Paco Nice interview with Paco DeLucia from last December. I found some Sephardic scores and there I noticed the great influence that this music has in Flamenco. I used to think that Flamenco was more influenced by the Arab culture, but I am pretty sure now that it is more linked to the Sephardic music made at Toledo at that time. At the end of 1988 I played guitar at a resort hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. After one set a man came up to me and said that my playing reminded him of Sephardic music. Up to that time I had always assumed that Flamenco was mostly Arabic in nature, with bits and pieces from India and stops along the Gypsy migration... 7:40:47 PM    comment []; My car makes me nice I have a Prius. It's a nice car, but it has an agenda. It's trying to turn me into a nice person. Really. The car has this onboard computer and screen that compels me to drive curteously. Sure, cut in front of me, no biggie, my breaking just regenerated 12KwH. I'll just smile and thank you. Yeah, I know what you are talking about...The Cult of Prius... Thanks Ole. 7:40:19 PM    comment []; Dynamic Range Eric Hansen (eshansen@bellsouth.net) writes in newsgroup alt.music.flamenco: I am getting really tired of all the new CD's being so pumped in volume. They are ruining the dynamic range of the music and we are not getting the full sound that was captured in the studio. If you take Cositas Buenas and analyze it in a audio program it is clear they used brick wall limiting to boost the volume up which results in chopped off peaks killing lots of transients. Paco's new CD is so loud and squashed my ears can only take it at lower volumes. Vicente's latest work with El Pele, "Cante" is even worse than Paco's new CD. On that CD the levels are as high as they can go and there are several instances of digital clipping which is totally unacceptable. That comment is right on. It is funny to me that at a time when we have almost unlimited volume available from our Hi-Fi power amps, we nevertheless seem to pump up all commercial CDs to be as loud as possible. It used to be a race to stand out, the theory being that the louder your CD was, the more it would be noticed. I know all about that, because NF was one of the loudest CDs of its time. Mind you, I had nothing to do with the mastering of that album, as Higher Octave demanded to be in control of that. NF was so loud that a lot of radio stations, especially the ones with older equipment, had to turn their equipment down in order to broadcast songs from NF without distortion. So, at first compressing a CD was supposed to get you noticed...then everyone got louder and finally loudest...and now you stick out if you are softer and people complain that the softer CD doesn't play well in their multi CD changer, because all the other CDs are louder... There really is no easy solution to this problem, because most of the listening public will not notice chopped of peaks and the absence of dynamics. Let me explain how limiting/compressing works to make music appear louder. The ear, or shall we say the brain, hears loudness as an average. In other words the brain does not perceive loudness as peaks and valleys, but rather as a median volume. That means we can make music appear louder by "squashing" it, making the softer parts louder while keeping the louder parts limited. This raises the average and makes the music appear louder. It also kills the dynamic range. Imagine a pencil drawing, with all of its many shades of grey, scanned and reduced to black and white. It may still be interesting and it may even be a cool effect, but it is no longer a pencil drawing. Now, compare NF with "The Hours between Night + Day". You will hear a lot more subtlety on the latter CD. And it is not quite as loud. Now compare "christmas + santa fe" and "Poets + Angels" - the former is softer, but sounds better, doesn't it. Two places that have always compressed sound are radio and dance-clubs. Both want you to hear something all of the time...God forbid there might be a momentary softness, a lull...Of course this means that most people are used to squashed sound and won't complain like the above Eric Hansen I would like to post two downloads for March or April to illustrate my point. One track will not be compressed and one will use a medium compression. I would love to hear your opinion. 7:39:38 PM    comment []; Caperbush If you are patient, you can watch this incredible Caper flower open before your eyes. If you are hungry for Capers, you will never see this magnificent vision. It is the young, tender green flower pods that are picked and pickled. It belongs to the honeysuckle family, Caprifloiacea, as do Abelias, Loniceras, Viburnums and Wiegelas. And, like the honeysuckle it is a fragrant flower. I had no idea! What a beautiful flower. I should grow some caperbushes! Caper is a spiny, trailing, deciduous shrub native to the Mediterranean. 7:21:32 AM    comment [];

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