The Sounds of Samaritan Music
The Music of the Forefathers and the Roots of the People of Israel

The Samaritan Singers Ensembles of
Of Gerizim Mountain and Holon in the Holy land

Written by: Benyamin Tsedaka

        In 1975, when the composer K. Penderetzki was asked to write a symphony for the central celebration of the 200th anniversary of the United States, he decided to base his work on “Paradise Lost” by John Milton. He began to search for special tones to represent the creation of the world. He felt the appropriate region to find these tones would be the Middle East and particularly, the land of Israel. With the help of colleagues in Israel, he met with representatives of the various Jewish communities in Israel. Finally, a friend of his, Mr. Hanoch Ron, a music critic at one of the largest newspapers in Israel, brought him to the Samaritans, descendants of the ancient nation that has never left the land of Israel. The Samaritan Singers performed the Song of the Sea for him, the song of Miriam the Prophetess, sister of Moses, sung by the children of Israel when they crossed the Red Sea. It took less than two minutes for Penderetzkito jump up from his seat in enthusiasm, crying out like Archimedes “Eureka! I’ve found it!” The US bicentennial celebrations were indeed opened to the sound of Samaritan notes.

Samaritan music has been studied by musicologists since the beginning of this century. R. Lachman of Vienna and A.Z. Idelson of Jerusalem were the first to make recordings of it. In the 1950’s and 1960’s this was also done by Geshuri, Valbeh, Hoffman, Katz and Herzog. However, the great wave of interest in Samaritan music was sparked off by Penderetzi and his successor today is the well known Israeli composer Noam Sherif, who uses many Samaritan sounds in his works, such as in Tehila LeYerushalayim (Prayer for Jerusalem) and Mechayei Hametim (Resurrection). Concert halls in the US, Europe and Israel have opened their gates wide to concerts of Samaritan music, with independent performances by the Samaritan Singers

as well as appearances in programs of ancient and contemporary song and music.

The uniqueness of Samaritan music is evident from the fact that musicology has found no other music similar to it among known music of the world. The leanings of Samaritan music towards the sources of ancient Israelite music has given it its own unique nature. For scholars, this music is a clear echo of ancient music which no longer exists. This is particularly interesting in view of the fact that the Samaritans in Israel lived for shorter or longer periods of time under many changing rulers and with the many different peoples who lived in the country, and yet no hint of foreign influence has been found in this music. There is no similarity between this music and Eastern, Western, Christian or Asian music. Professional listeners will be filled with great excitement when they hear the first notes of these unique sounds. 

Vocal Music

Samaritan music is vocal music, unaccompanied by instruments, handed down over the one hundred and thirty generations of the ancient Israelite-Samaritan people in the land of Israel. It has been passed on in two ways: 
  1. Through formal study, with every Samaritan boy and girl studying for about an hour a day with Samaritan teachers at the Community Center when they come home from their regular school. They learn reading, liturgy and poetry in ancient Hebrew and in the Aramaic dialect still used today by the Samaritans.
  2. By Participation in prayer services at the Samaritan synagogue every Sabbath and festival.
Thus the musical tradition is preserved, with its thousand different songs and melodies, some of which are sung in prayer services and secular ceremonies, on Sabbath and festivals and on joyous as well as sorrowful occasions. Some of the songs are handed down directly, a clear echo of ancient Israelite song, some were written by Samaritan composers in the latter half of the first millennium and some in the first half of the second millennium era.
Samaritan music is in part composed of variations and coloratura phrases which cannot be followed by the written musical score, but in part has a rhythmic unity, which facilitates writing musical scores and musical arrangements for it. Musicologists have indeed tried their hands at this with varying degrees of success.

Nonetheless, the uniqueness of Samaritan music still stands out. The performances of the Samaritan Singers emphasize the three most striking features:

1.LEFT AND RIGHT SINGING: Those who pray in the synagogue, which faces east, are divided into two groups. Members of the first group are known as Rightists, and sit on the right side of the synagogue. Members of the second group are called Leftists and sit on the left side of the synagogue hall. There are prayer hymns with 22 stanzas, the same number as the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each verse has four short lines. The Rightists begin to sing the first verse and when they get to the beginning of the third line, the Leftists begin to sing the second verse. In this way all congregants continue singing to the end of the hymn, each side singing its own verses. The Rightists sing the odd-numbered stanzas while the Leftists sing the even-numbered ones. The cantor of the synagogue always joins the Rightists.

2.TRILLS- ADDING SYLLABLES NOT IN THE TEXT: This is also a characteristic unique to Samaritan music. The singers sing a given version but to embellish the song, they add many phrases not among the syllables comprising the words of the given text. In this manner two words can at times be sung for over two minutes, by adding a variety of syllables and trills which are not part of the text. For example, the word “kamu” from the verse: “the depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom like stone.” (Exodus 15:5) or in ancient Hebrew, “yaradu bammasalot kamu aaben”, is sung just like this: kaaawaanuwwa’awwa’aaawwanuwwa’aamu’oooau’aoo’unwoo’aoo.

3.SINGING A GIVEN TEXT WITH A VARIETY OF MELODIES: There are many texts which are sung with different melodies according to occasion – secular, Sabbath, festival or pilgrimage. Thus, for example, the Song of the Day can be performed with more than ten different melodies.

Closing the Circle

The enormous interest of scholars brought about the formation of the Samaritan Singers, a group which began in 1980 to go out into the world and participate in concerts and music festivals in Israel, Europe and the United States, including the annual Musica Sacra International Festival held in Europe and Fifth World’s Symposium of Choral Music held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands [1999]. After an appearance in Marktoberdorf near Munich, Germany [1992], a musicologist approached the leader of the group and introduced herself as a member of a scientific team of musicologists from diverse countries. With tears in her eyes from the powerful emotion she felt, she recounted that for years the research team had been trying to formulate the common music of the future from known forms of music. To her great surprise, the ancient sounds that she heard in the Samaritan Singers, as learned from 130 generations of their forefathers in the land of Israel, were very similar to the common sounds which the research team had arrived at.
Download the Samaritan Singers music for your relaxing listening entertainment. You have never heard anything like it in your life!
1."TIBIYAMU U TITAAMU"- "And you god will bring Israel and place him in your place -(The song of the sea-Exodus 15:17)

2."ELAEE THAR GARIZEM"-"The god of mount Gerizim and the master of the world "

3. "EH ABRAHAM"- "Hooo Abraham and his righteousness "

4. "ELA RAB U LIT KABATE"-"The greatest god who is none as him"

5. "LEHELUWEM ASHLEMET" -"The glory is for god"

6. "MILGU LAHAZA RABA"
 
 

Further information

Please feel free to download the Samaritan music, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. If you looking for the Samaritan Singers CD, information where and when the Samaritan Singers are performing or would like to engage their music, please let us know through our e-mail address, oshercpc@internet-zahav.net or write to us at www.the-Samaritans.com, Sheshet Hayamin 7, Holon, Israel, 58490. You may also contact us via ICQ # 35551311. Also if you wish to link us, please contact us first, thank you!
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