Daniel Halfon

https://youtu.be/MnWKj1_17oEThe melody for Hashem Bekol Shofar / Lema'ankha Elohai is perhaps one of the oldest in the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi repertoire. With no exception that I am aware of, it has iterations across the entire Sephardi world, suggesting that its origins are very ancient indeed. As a lachan, it gets a good airing over the Yamim Nora'im. It is the setting for second of the...

http://danielhalfon.com/megillat-esther/It's almost that time of the year again. Simchat Purim!

Although 'snogeiros' of the communities of Amsterdam, New York and London may not know this particular version of 'Tehilat', they will nevertheless immediately recognize it as one of their own. Like a close relative they have never met before. This chant is in fact the French variant of the family of melodies, derived from the Uba Letsiyon paradigm, sung on Shabbatot and festivals across the Spani...

https://youtu.be/i0d368L-86UMy family's recording of Hishki Hizki. Hope you like it. Please share!Thanks and Mo'adim Lesimcha

https://youtu.be/bcfyGgMpEzsThis melody, from the London Spanish and Portuguese community, is reserved exclusively for the Kedusha of Shachrit on both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. It is a stand-alone item, curiously unrelated to any other melody or motif from the high holiday repertoire. This is in contrast to the Kedusha melody used for Mincha, which is based on the chant for 'Achot Ketana'; and ...

https://youtu.be/1iWRdX_2_80When I visited Congregation Shearith Israel for my 'aprova' in 1977, one of the most arresting points of comparison between the New York and London styles was the use of, what I believed to be, an exclusively Yamim Nora'im melody as the setting for Hashkibenu on a regular Friday night. True, the New York version was not entirely faithful to the harmonic minor scale. Nor...

https://youtu.be/Vu4oOoziIosIn an earlier post I wrote that in 'The Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' the learned Hazzan, D.A. de Sola, identifies the Spanish and Portuguese tune for Lekha Dodi as deriving from what he believes to be its original 16th century setting.By the 1960's however, as is evident from the recordings made of the London community's congregati...

https://youtu.be/9urY0cPErbgPerhaps the most moving and poignant example of cantorial artistry within the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi repertoire is the cadenza repetition of the final strophe of Et Sha'are Ratson. Mr Abinun, the beloved Hazzan of the London community for over 40 years, admitted to me that he was unable to sing 'Libritekha' on Rosh Hashanah without shedding a tear. Today, as I ...

https://youtu.be/LCvH5x4wey8This piyyut, sung in all Sephardi communities on Rosh Hashanah, is perhaps the most emotionally charged element of the liturgy for that day, surpassing for some – dare I say it - the blowing of the shofar itself. Despite its centrality to the Rosh Hashanah order of prayer, Et Sha'arei Ratson's earliest extant version appears in an anthology of pizmonim for Yom Kippur. T...

https://youtu.be/61QNb6XCnRQAdaptations of Mendelssohn and Handel have long since been part and parcel the Spanish and Portuguese repertoire. Beethoven, however, has yet to make his mark. Perhaps his time has now come. The final movement of his Symphony no. 6 (Pastoral) would make a truly empyrean setting for Tehilat Hashem sung at the conclusion of Ashrei Yoshebei Betekha. Beethoven, himself, des...

An 18th century example of a martelo. This one was used on Ros Hodes in the London Spanish and Portuguese community's former Bryanston Square synagogue to remind congregants to include Yangale veYabo in their reading of the Ngamida. On Shabbat a Mi Sheberakh would be made for the recipent of this sadly discarded mitsvah: 'Que klappera o martelo no teba'

https://youtu.be/wDqFEIIDelcThe Shirat Hayam - Az Yashir Moshe - is perhaps the earliest recorded communally performed song in the Jewish tradition. D.A. de Sola cites an unnamed medieval source that identifies the melody, then known in Spain, as the very one sung by Miriam and her companions following the crossing of the Red Sea. While acknowledging that this claim may fall shy of the standards o...

https://youtu.be/KPbau_F91IERa'u Banim Et GeburatoThis setting for 'Ra'u Banim' was composed by Emile Jonas (1827-1905) during his long tenure as the choirmaster of the Portuguese Synagogue in Paris. A composer with more than 15 operatic works to his credit, including a collaboration with Georges Bizet, he also found time to be the musical director of the French Imperial Guard. His operatic and m...

When Andalus Meets Bach (J.S. not Carl E)https://youtu.be/olKN5JpaSgoThis gem of a setting for 'La'el Baruch Ne'imot Yitenu' was taught to me by Jacqui Amsali, in my opinion one of the finest Sephardi hazzanim in Jerusalem. As with much of the material from the port city of Oran, it seamlessly fuses elements of Andalusian music with western classical styles, in this case a wonderful fugal passag...

https://youtu.be/_jkP3Vj10OoHazzan D.A. De Sola, in 'The Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' writes: “A new melody to Adon Olam composed by the writer of this Essay, having met with some favour by the Sephardic congregations of London, the Hague, in America etc., has been added as an Appendix, in the hope of its being further adopted by other congregations, or for ...

https://www.youtube.com/user/SephardiHazzanThe SephardiHazzan YouTube channel now features over 70 tracks, so I have reorganized it to make it easier to locate the melodies you might be looking for.There are melody playlists for:KaddishKedushaHallelYamim Nora'imHome ceremoniesTehilimAdon Olam/En Kelohenu/Yigdal/Lekha DodiRomancasPlease visit, like and share.😀

Catriel Ceballos Catger thought you might be interested. They will be marked down during Hol Hamo'ed. Munchos Anyos.

https://youtu.be/b6E_mvkhz6MHodesh Tob! This melody is sung on Yom Tob and Shabbat-Rosh Hodesh in the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi communities of New York and Philadelphia. It's origins are unclear. It is unknown in London, where Min Hametsar is chanted to the melody for Shirat Hayam. Could it possibly be Dutch? Perhaps, one of those melodies from Amsterdam that over the centuries has fallen in...

https://youtu.be/_CvBL4-B7iwThis melody for Pitchu Li Sha'arei Tsedek (verses 19-24 of Psalm 118) is from the Sephardi community of Gibraltar. Despite being set in a minor key, it is sung on a variety of festive occasions, including the Hallel at the Pesach Seder and on Shabou'ot morning. It is also a mainstay of the wedding repertoire on the rock.(H/T for this background note to Isaac Hassan)Plea...

https://youtu.be/pNY3HYIJUGIThis melody is known by the London choir as the 'Number 3' Hallel, and because of its brevity and succinctness it is often the setting of choice for Arbit on the first two nights of Pesach. As far as I know, this tune is not known in New York, but I have a suspicion that it may be in Amsterdam. Can anyone confirm that?Please like and share.For an mp3 of this recording p...

https://youtu.be/BO7oKslHDPAThis beautiful and expressive modal chant for Tehilim is used across the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi diaspora, though not necessarily for the same liturgical selections. In Congregation Shearith Israel in New York, for example, it is used for the introductory verses to Arbit on Motsa'ei Shabbat, while in the Spanish and Portuguese community of Bordeaux, it is the ch...

http://danielhalfon.com/megillat-esther/It's almost that time of the year again, so here's a link to a Spanish and Portuguese reading of Megillat Esther.There are separate files for each chapter in YouTube or downloadable MP3 format.

https://youtu.be/JElk5Z5XwIAThis melody is very similar to the Shabbat morning Kiddush that I heard in the homes of both Haham Solomon Gaon (z'l), and my beloved teacher Hazzan Eliezer Abinun (z'l).In recent years it was introduced to a wider audience by the musician/musicologist Miguel Sánchez, after having discovered it in the archives of the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid. Its non-...

https://youtu.be/hRFOPP4Z3uMIn the anthology 'The Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' (London, 1857), D. A. de Sola places the piyyut 'Elohei Oz Tehilati' among the bakashot that are sung before shachrit, a practice long since discontinued in the London community. The setting in that volume is borrowed from a melody used for the Hallel. The present recording is a va...

https://youtu.be/973Y-WipitoThis melody is known in the Amsterdam and London communities as a tune for the piyyut 'Yigdal Elohim Chai', and additionally in Holland as a setting for the shabbat table songs 'Yah Ribon' and Tsur Mishelo Achalnu'. It is often noted that it bears a resemblance to the Scottish folksong 'Coming Through the Rye'.Please like and share.For an mp3 of this recording please vi...