https://youtu.be/I1Pzggw0phQ# Hashem Melekh | LondonThe custom in the London Spanish and Portuguese Congregation was, and I trust still is, that Hashem Melekh in the Shabbat and festival Zemirot would be read by a boy under the age of Bar Mitzvah. Not only did this participation mark the cantorial debut for many of us, but in the early 1960s it commanded a performance fee of five shillings - serious money in those days.The melody presented here is known throughout the Spanish and Portuguese diaspora and has iterations across much of the wider Sephardi world. In the London community it is the standard setting for Hashem Melekh on all Shabbatot and the Shalosh Regalim. It is also used for the congregational chanting of the Kaddish on Mo’adim and serves as a much loved setting for En Kelohenu.It was likely introduced into the Spanish and Portuguese repertoire by Hazzan Yosef Gallego (? - 1628), a native of Salonika, who served as the first Hazzan of Beth Ya’akob, the earliest Portuguese congregation in Amsterdam.The tune itself is based on the “Romanesca”, a melodic-harmonic formula, much in vogue from the middle of the 16th century until the early part of the 17th century. One of the most widely known classical pieces to employ this template is the Canon in D major by Johann Pachelbel with which the present recording shares a strikingly similar chord progression.Please like and share, and if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. For an mp3 of this recording please visit my website, where there are over 170 selections available for free downloading