Kol Dodi - Sephardic Song
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- Oud by Oğüzhan Özkılıç, vocals by Kelareh Kabiri and Farya Faraji, arrangement by Farya Faraji. This is another song from the Sephardic musical repertoire, the community of Jews expelled from Iberia at the end of the Reconquista and who settled around the Mediterranean, principally in the Ottoman Empire.
The first challenge in providing an ethnomusicologically informed rendition is of Sephardic songs is determining what context the rendition should exemplify. Indeed, Sephardic music is a repertoire, not a style, which means it's a collection of shared songs, but the playing style is geographically determined: Serbian Sephardic Jews would have Serbian sounding music, those in Rhodes would have music sounding like Rhodes', etc. I decided my rendition would have the typological features of West Anatolian and Aegean music of circa the previous two centuries. Therefore, I used an oud, a saz, qanun, kaval, and percussions of the area. It's important to note that I'm unsure whether the song was actually performed in that region or not, as some songs were historically more localised and very few songs of the Sephardis actually date back to their common Iberian roots pre-dispersion.
Unlike most Sephardi songs, this one is not in the Ladino language, but instead in Hebrew, a language that was long dead, or rather dormant for much of Jewish history, and only survived has a liturgical and prestige language before being fully revived recently. The lyrics come from the Book of Songs.
Hebrew lyrics:
Kol dodi, kol dodi
Kol dodi hineh ze ba
M’kaltez al heharim
M’daleg al hagva’ot
English translation:
My lover's voice, my lover's voice,
My lover comes!
Leaping on the mountains,
Skipping on the valleys. - Hudba
Oud by Oğüzhan Özkılıç, vocals by Kelareh Kabiri and Farya Faraji, arrangement by Farya Faraji. This is another song from the Sephardic musical repertoire, the community of Jews expelled from Iberia at the end of the Reconquista and who settled around the Mediterranean, principally in the Ottoman Empire.
The first challenge in providing an ethnomusicologically informed rendition is of Sephardic songs is determining what context the rendition should exemplify. Indeed, Sephardic music is a repertoire, not a style, which means it's a collection of shared songs, but the playing style is geographically determined: Serbian Sephardic Jews would have Serbian sounding music, those in Rhodes would have music sounding like Rhodes', etc. I decided my rendition would have the typological features of West Anatolian and Aegean music of circa the previous two centuries. Therefore, I used an oud, a saz, qanun, kaval, and percussions of the area. It's important to note that I'm unsure whether the song was actually performed in that region or not, as some songs were historically more localised and very few songs of the Sephardis actually date back to their common Iberian roots pre-dispersion.
Unlike most Sephardi songs, this one is not in the Ladino language, but instead in Hebrew, a language that was long dead, or rather dormant for much of Jewish history, and only survived has a liturgical and prestige language before being fully revived recently. The lyrics come from the Book of Songs.
Hebrew lyrics:
Kol dodi, kol dodi
Kol dodi hineh ze ba
M’kapetz al heharim
M’daleg al hagva’ot
English translation:
My lover's voice, my lover's voice,
My lover comes!
Leaping on the mountains,
Skipping on the valleys.
Yes, it's from Song of Solomon chapter 2:
8 "The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping yover the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice."
Your description of Hebrew is only half-right: through Hebrew remained the language of intercommunal (though not intracommunal) communication as well as the common language used by Jewish merchants until the late 19th century CE, when Ben-Yehuda "revived" (and imho mutilated) it as a language of daily intracommunal usage.
A lovely rendition of the song.
I'd live to see him try his hand at some of the Psalms.
@@loganglasspell917 Same.
@@loganglasspell917 liking so it gets to him
Farya uploaded psalm 135 once IIRC
@@lurker69420*Twice, he made a different rendition in Nineveh symphony
@@loganglasspell917 He has done one - with that beimg Psalm 135
Your Hebrew pronunciation is spot on, to the letter. I am deeply impressed
It's always nice seeing someone who plays traditional music and actually gives a thought to the cultures it's from. It would be a pretty big disservice to these cultures to put out a song claiming to be traditional, but the lyrics are just a mangled mess of "I read about Hebrew on Wikipedia once" nonsense.
Note regarding the text: the lyrics come from Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 2:8. Traditionally attributed to Solomon, the book is a series of love poems. Despite its near total absence of explicitly religious content, both Jews and Christians hold it to be allegorical. We hold it to be an allegory of the love of G-d and the People Israel (though later Jewish mystics would read additional layers of meaning into it,) and Christians hold it to be an allegory of love between Christ and the Church. Rabbi Akiva, one of the most important rabbis of Mishnaic times, is reported to have said "for all the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies!" In most communities, the book (which is quite short) is recited in its entirety on the Shabbos that falls during Pesach; ostensibly due to its allegorical content, but also implicitly because Pesach is a springtime holiday, and the book is filled with imagery of verdant, blooming gardens and hillsides. In medieval Spain, the book took on a literary significance as Jewish poets worked from Arabic genres and metres to reinvent Hebrew poetry, writing both liturgical poetry and (arguably for the first time in the language) secular poetry in which quotations or borrowed phrases from Song of Songs were used prominently. For the Jewish mystical tradition, which reached its full flowering in the 1500s mediterranean diaspora, the book, which this tradition sees as the fullest possible expression of the erotic aspects of the divine, took on additional status. It became the custom in many Sephardic/Mizrachi communities to recite it in its entirety on friday afternoon before Shabbos, a custom which spread to those parts of the Ashkenazi world more inclined to pick up Kabbalistic customs from the Sephardim. This particular verse is also recited during a ritual caled Kiddush Levanah, a monthly blessing said on the waxing moon. (Sources: for the reinvention of Hebrew poetry in Muslim Spain, see Scheindlin, "Wine, Women, and Death," and "The Gazelle," Cole, "The Dream of the Poem," and Carmi, "Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse." For the mystical uses of the text, this is a subject of very extensive scholarship, but the one I'm drawing from is Hellner-Eshed's "A River Flows From Eden; the Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar." For the liturgical uses of Song of Songs, I literally just used my siddur (prayer book,) which is a Koren Sefard Siddur. Koren is the publisher, and 'Sefard' confusingly does not refer to one of the Sefardic rites, but to the prayer rite of Ashkenazi Jews in the 1700s who decided to alter the Ashkenazi rite to be more in line with Sephardi customs, especially customs of mystical origin. The most common though by no means the only rite used by Sephardic and Mizrachi communities is called 'Edot Hamizrach.,' testimony of the east. If you want to confirm the origin of this verse, just look up Song of Songs 2:8. Sefaria is a good website for this.)
As a Christian I can confirm that we do consider Song of Songs to be allegorical, but we also believe it's about romantic love between two married people, as the main event of the book is Solomon being presented with his bride on their wedding night. Side note, I often think this verse is where we got the phrases, 'Young buck,' and 'stag party.' Also, in Egyptian cinema from the Golden era, there is sometimes a window with a sort of lattice in the beginning of a scene which a young woman peeks through before she comes out to do a dance.
@@gregorsamsa9264 תודה אחי ✡️♥️
@@FireflowerDancer'divine love as a model for earthly love' is certainly an extant reading for us as well. Also, are you thinking of any movies in particular? If so, please tell me. Always eager to watch something new.
Yet only tge words "kol dodi" are found there. Where did the rest of tge lyrics come from?
@@eylon1967they are in the songs of Solomon. I forgot which verse tho
Farya Faraji finally completes the circle with music in Hebrew
Farya Faraji: *makes this masterpiece
His cat: 😸
if i remember correctly he said in a video once that the cat is his neighbors
and im wondering like, does he swoop in to his neighbors to abduct the cat just to record, or?
@@lurker69420cats are beautiful protectors.
@@lurker69420 “Hey! Sorry guys, I need to steal your cat again. Hope you don’t mind”
- Farya, probably
@@lurker69420 I'm under the impression it's Jon Snow (the cat) who makes his presence known. He's allegedly always eating
@@lomionaredhelion and also unleashes verbal assaults in spanish when agitated
Thank you for your beautiful work!!! Every time you cover a Sephardic song my heart grows two sizes, it's not often I get to see my culture represented or even really recognised. Love from Istanbul
Serbian writer Gordana Kuic wrote a lot of Sephards in Balcans,her Mum was Sephard.The most famous Sephardic song in the Balcans is Kad ja podjoh na Bembashu,try to find it.
Wonderful song. One recommendation related to this. There is a famous song from Bosnia called "Kad ja pođoh na Bembašu", which is actually a Sephardic melody sung in the synagogues by the local Jewry. In their Ladino tongue the folk song derived from this is called "Mi kerido mi amado". It would be really cool to hear your rendition of these two songs, perhaps in both Serbian and Ladino, similar to what you did with Katibim and Apo xeno topo.
Proud Persian Israelite, specifically from tribe of ephraim glory to Cyrus the great and we the Israelite would be in debt before him and Persia forever
Yes! One of my favorite Sephardi songs ❤
you should do a cover of dror Y’kira. it’s originally a Sephardic poem, but it’s often sung by the Yemenite Jews in their dialiect which is an older form of Hebrew, resembling how it may have been spoken during the second temple
Period. It maintains a lot of the original Semitic sounds that are absent from modern Hebrew.
Here is another vote for Dror Y'kira.
Farya is producing folk music on a mass level. Mad respect.
pronunciation 10/10 i can understand him perfectly as a jew who speaks hebrew
Beautiful song and just what I needed to soothe my spirit after a long day. Thanks for also providing the translation, historical context and the mix of instruments you used...truly fascinating stuff and really appreciate you sharing it all with us!
thank you for doing jewish music, especially right now. it is profoundly lonely as a jewish musician right now and seeing our music sung/celebrated means an enormous amount. your hebrew pronunciation is wonderful and sparks so much joy. thank you for being a friend to the jewish people.
Beautiful version of Kol Dodi. I've been singing and dancing it for a long time, but didnt know it was Safardic. Thanks from Oakland CA
Love the Sephardi music! Please keep up the amazing work, really shows how Jewish culture is a great deal more than bagels.
Your work is incredible, shalom and todah from America.
Thank you so much for this rendition!
I've known this melody ever since I was a kid, from Catholic Church. Some years ago I've heard somewhere the version by Qyian Krets (now I know that!), and thus learned it was a Jewish song - but that is all I knew. I tried to find it for years, but had no idea what to search for - and now another piece of my memory has fallen into it's place ❤
Interesting choice to have settled for Modern Israeli pronunciation. That's the one I myself am using for both Modern and Biblical Hebrew, with occasional forays into Yemenite. Beautiful rendition by your mother and yourself! Great instrumentation by all involved. I think I like this version more than the previous one.
As a brazilian, a fellow iberian descent, it dissapoints me that people only remembers the Ashkenazi Jews from germanic regions and if they remember, the Mizrahim native jews while forgetting that Sephardim Jews had also its heritage and cultural legacy.
As always, i admire your work, Farya. Spot on
You may like that in Israel they speak the Sephardic pronunciation of Hebrew (Ashkenazi is used by many communities for prayers and Torah reading). The traditions of the Sephardim and Ashkenazi are closely intertwined. For example, in my school, mezuzahs are attached to jambs in both Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Some ethnic Ashkenazim adhere to the Sephardic tradition. For example, my friend's uncle, an Orthodox, goes to a Sephardic synagogue.
(I translated through a translator for this text may look strange.)
I mean, it just depends on what circle of people you're around. Unfortunately, the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities have had some isolation over the years, but that has started to change recently. Personally, I'm an Ashkenazi Jew who LOVES Sephardic music, and this is one of my favorites!
All jews are 'native' jews. Many Mizrachis are closer, though
@@limeboiler depends what context you are using and what "time period". Words are ALWAYS about context, and here the context fits.
Well.......Ashkenazis aren't really well liked despite their popularity while Sephardis are more liked.
Day 7 of asking Farya for a track about the Sassanin-Aksumite war with Persian and Ethiopian war music for the battles. Btw great video, happy for sephardic music and the intro was great.
LOVE FROM BRAZIL
Song of Songs 2:8
קוֹל דּוֹדִי, הִנֵּה-זֶה בָּא; מְדַלֵּג, עַל-הֶהָרִים--מְקַפֵּץ, עַל-הַגְּבָעוֹת.
Your lyrics are NEARLY spot on; however, you switched a couple of hebrew words (still makes sense though). Very well done
This guy just oozes authenticity it's insane
Very impressed with your pronunciation!
And your singing of course ;)
Excelent version Farya!
in polish Catholic Church, a lyrically modified version of this song is sung during masses addressed to young children (especially around the time of the first holy communion). When I was little, it was my favorite moment of an otherwise generally boring ceremony.
I have had nothing to do with the church for years now, but I really enjoy listening to the original versions of this song.
@@Godunow100 The melody is also used for a German church song.
@@johannweber5185 Good to know :) apparently its quite popular, i saw someone mentioning Romania as well.
Excellent! I love it. One thing in regard for the translation you gave: the last word (hagva'ot) means 'the hills', not 'the valleys'. So 'Leaping on the mountains, Skipping on the hills'.
🔥👌عالی فاریا جان
The song is AMAZING and the cat is very cute.
And speaks Spanish like a native. The cat, I mean.
Greetings from Louisiana, USA
Beautiful song 🙌🙌🙌
Much love from portugal
This is the first time I'm noticing a comment from Portugal. High-five tuga 🤚
@@quietcat high five caralhooooo
@@purpleongray1615 🤣
That moment, when as a Hebrew speaker, I learn that the word "dod" has another meaning other than "uncle"- it also means "lover" (no -this has nothing to do with Alabama).
I've been learning Hebrew for a year and it still creeps me out!!
Dodi is related to the word Dod, but I think "lover" is a bad translation of Dodi because in English it has sexual connotations, while Dodi (at least in the ancient Biblical Hebrew this is written in) is NOT about a sexual relationship at all, but one of familial love.
@@yeshevishman I see it translated as "beloved" a lot, is that better?
@@tharo4390 Generally. Again, it's weird because in the context of the original quote here, it IS using Dodi as a metaphor of G-d being like a "spouse", so there are some connotations of intimacy, but in general, the word connotates a familial closeness.
That's the issue with ANY translation: you either lose direct meaning OR you lose implications - especially when translating poetic language. I mean, in THIS case, Dodi is more like a "pet name" one might have for a spouse, but it can ALSO be used as a "pet name" for any other close family member.
@@yeshevishman it’s the context of the songs of Solomon which this verse is taken from, seems to imply they are lovers “A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” Is from a few passages before. 😆
Le texte vient bien de Shir Hashirim, le cantique des cantiques de Salomon, chapitre 2 verset 8 (y a deux mots qui sont inversés mais le sens reste le même). À noter que dans la prononciation sepharade traditionelle, la lettre "ayin" se prononce comme en arabe. Par exemple sur le mot " ‘al" qui veut dire "sur" avec ayin devient une négation quand il commence avec un aleph, donc une attaque glotale. Pareil pour le mot hagba‘ot ! Autrement c'est génial, ça fait plaisir de voir une super version du repertoire juif et sefarade en plus réalisée avec beaucoup de tact et d'authenticité !
Farya has a beautiful voice but the woman's voice is just Wow 👏
Great musical artwork Farya, love from Bolivia 🇧🇴❤
Wow just Amazing...Farya very impressive Hebrew(btw this Sfaradi Hebrew from Spain/Ottomans/North Africa is the base of modern Israeli Hebrew),love to Sfaradim from Juhuri/Mountain Jew.
couldn't believe my eyes when i read the title before i clicked the video, so excited hearing you sing in hebrew!! you both did a fantastic job with pronunciation
Oh, wow! I've known this song for years, and always loved it. It's such a sweet, beautiful song. I'm very glad to hear it again!
That was just awesome, thanks, Farya, Kelareh and The Cat ❤❤❤😊
I just discovered that how fast i can like your videos and comment on them : fast as light itself
Greetings from İzmir
Bro, I really missed this one when you deleted it, I like your mom's vocals, she has a nice voice. But I knew you would probably remake it and I was waiting for it. And gladly, here we are! Keep up the good work man, we all aprecciate your art! 👊👊
Oh, beautiful! It's from the Song of Songs, which we read during Pesach.
Wow! the dedication & discipline you have for music to make these works is to be respected. This beautiful song conveys a lot of feeling. I admire your hard work Faraji. 👏👏
I like your music so much
We love Sephardi farya music
Also crazy to see his first song where I recognize the title :)
The cat (as they always do) stole the show. 😊😊😊
Heck yeah! I love this one. I first heard it on the Echoes of Qiyan album. Your version is epic.
I just listened to your songs of the world playlist on a long drive today and I feel blessed with this new song. Thank you.
Wake up everyone, new Farya Faraji video just dropped! 🥳🥳🥳
Thank you Farya!
this is one of my favorite songs in Hebrew 👏
i remember hearing this when i was very young and this brings back alot of memories, also reminds me of the fall of al andalus, thank you, great song!
Finally re-released!!
Another day another w for the Sephardic musical tradition
Thanks for the new video !! 😊
I like this. Thank you
🥰 Beautiful song.
Damn, in Poland there is a catholic song "Idzie mój Pan" (There comes my Lord) and the melody is the same. I have so many questions
Yeah i was suprised when several years ago i listened to "some sephardic song on YT" and found out that it has the same melody as that cool song that we sang during first holy comunion some 30 years ago.
Same as a Romanian - Fulgi de nea mii și mii
I learned to play this song as a kid and was just wondering about it's actual origins this week, thank you so much ❤❤❤
great sound keep going ❤❤
Another absolute banger! I loved your previous version too. The lyrics are indeed from Song of Songs chapter 2, verse 8.
Probably the least horny line in he whole poem, by the way.
This music video is pretty awesome, love to see you playing instruments more.
Beautiful work as always. The instrument choice is definitely an interesting choice-and a good one! Love the work you put into researching.
Thank you! You have a wonderful voice and I love this piece.
Love this song! Love your work! Love this rendition!
👏👏👏 Your cat is so talented!!! Look at his acting skills! A real cutie 🩶
I mean, you're pretty talented as well, but kitty steals the show! 😅
you did fantastic with the hebrew!
The lyrics might come from Song of Songs (or Solomon) 2:8
Indeed they do
Would be amazing to see something about the Khazars. Hebrew + Turkic + Caucasian stuff.
Love from Kürdistan
Gratitude infini des étoiles lointaines
This music is pretty kol dodi
tüm dostlara selam olsun iyi ki farklısınız...
BOYS WAKE UP FARYA FARAJI DROPPED A NEW MUSIC VIDEO
My favorite songs of yours are starting to have a theme- and coincidentally, they're from the same regions as my favorite dances. ❤ As always, thank you!! 💃
i missed your version on this song. i remember the first version had just your mama's voice but i am even happier to listen you both together, your voices blend so well.
love how you start only with the vocals and then the instruments and other voices are added, i am not sure if it has a specific name but this technique is very used in samba, where layers of different sounds are added throughout the second & third part of the song (like, when the chorus enters). it adds so much power to the song, it's enticing.
your video editing is also so good i could eat it & you are so pretty i wish you were something i had painted.
Greetings from turkey.
Really interesting! I've been following your channel for 4 years (through another account), I've always liked your music! Congratulations!
ITS BACKKK ITS BACKK ITS BACK OMG THANK YOU BRO HHHTHTHHT
Beautiful! ❤
Great stuff brother!
Hi Farya, could you make your own version of the Armenian folk song “Dzayn my hnchec”(Ձայն մը հնչեց). I'd really like to hear it from you
Amazing!!
This is really, really good! Do you think you would be open to try to do ancient Judean music? There is quite a lot of work on the musical style that was done by Abraham Zvi Idelsohn in the 20th century and the ancient hebrew pronunciation has been mostly conserved by the Yemenite jews. I think it could be very interesting to hear your interpretation of Judean music even if you end up opting for aramaic or greek instead of hebrew.
Beautiful rendition of one of the most powerful songs of the Jewish people. Blessings and love to you from Israel ❤
Settler
❤️❤️❤️🟢🦁⚪🔴❤️🇮🇱
@@chronos2669
Jews have a right to settle in their own ancestral homeland Judea.
🕎🇮🇱✡️
You're commenting on a video showcasing a song whose lyrics were written by Jews, in Judea (Land of Israel), in the 8th Century BC. And this is the place you thought appropriate to call a Jew in Israel a settler? 😂@@chronos2669
@@chronos2669you're commenting on a video showcasing a song whose lyrics were written by Jews in Judea (Land of Israel) in the 8th Century BC, and this is the place you thought appropriate to call a Jew in Israel a settler? 😂
Do The man the myth, the legend always be producing bangers. This shit is straight 🔥🔥🔥
This song is indeed from "Song of Songs"/"Songs of Solomon"
I can see if I can find the verse in the Christian bible if you're interested?
Found it, chapter 2 verse 8
One of the songs I learnt in first grade. I think our pronunciation was slightly off though and we had no clue what we were singing about.😂
Beautiful rendition.
Beautiful.
oh this tune is amazing
Absolute banger
Una de mis canciones favoritas
Hi Farya, I love what you do but I just had one question about the pronunciation in this song. Looking at the Wiktionary of דוד it seems that the pronunciation of the word in the context of a loved one is /daˈvid/ in Modern Israeli Hebrew and /d̪a(ː)ˈvid̪/ in Sephardi Hebrew. According to Wiktionary the pronunciation you use in the video means "my uncle" instead of "my lover". Would love some more insights on how pronunciation was researched for this video :)
I listened to other recordings by Jews and they all, without exception, pronounce it like I do here. Beyond that, I don't know the explanation for this discrepancy. My job is to report how the song is sung in its native cultural context, and that's how this word is pronounced when sung across the totality of all its renditions. I'm sure there's some linguistic-phonological rationale for this discrepancy, but you'll have to ask the Hebrew speakers who pronounce it this way.
Beautiful
The source of the lyrics is the Old Testament, Book of "Writings" Song of Songs 2:8. Also called King Solomon's song.
Lyrics:
“kol dodi hee-nay zeh bah”
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh
“medaleg al heh-hareem - mekapetz al hah-gva-ot”
leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills
“ah-nah dodee v-ah-mar lee koo-mee lakh koo-mee lakh”
My beloved spoke, and said unto me: Rise up
“rah-yah-tee yah-fah-tee oo-lekhee lakh”
my love, my fair one, and come away.
“har-eenee et mahr-ah-eekh ha-shmee-eenee et kolekh”
show me your appearance, let me hear thy voice
“kee kolekh ah-rev, oo-mahrekh nah-veh”
for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely
“anee yeh-shenah v’leebee ehr”
I sleep, but my heart is awake
kol dodee dofek peet-khee lee akhotee rah-yah-tee
Hark! my beloved is knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my love
“dodee lee vah-anee lo”
My beloved is mine, and I am his
“kol dodee dofek dofek peet-khee lee”
Hark! my beloved is knocking, is knocking:’Open to me’
Прекрасно
Adam harika❤
Wonderful as always.
Yea, this has nothing to do with the song, but here's an idea for another one: theme for the Bagratid dynasty
if you are a romanian listening to this, you probably already know this song from the christmas dr. max pharmacy advert, kinda cool
And here I was, thinking that this was typical Polish song that we sing every Sunday in church (obviously in Polish). You're doing an amazing job!
The melody is also used for a German church song.