Walter Zev Feldman is a leading researcher in both Ottoman Turkish and Jewish music. He is author of the books Music of the Ottoman Court: Makam, Composition, and the Early Ottoman Instrumental Repertoire (Berlin, 1996), and Klezmer: Music, History, & Memory (Oxford, 2016), and has contributed the entries "Ottoman Music," and "Klezmer Music" to the New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians. In 2004 he co-directed the successful application of the Mevlevi Dervishes of Turkey as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity for UNESCO. 

His current research interests include the relation of rhythmic cycle (usul) and melody in
Ottoman music, and gesture in Ashkenazic Jewish and other dance cultures.

 
Eshkolot Feldman Moscow Lecture
Eshkolot Feldman Dance Workshop.jpg

A selection of older articles and papers is available for download at the academia.edu website.

Fellowships & Awards

 
  • Westphalian Wilhelms University (WWU) Fellowship (February 2016):  “Compositions of Tanburi Isak Fresco According to the Oldest Hamparsum Manuscripts.”
  • NYU AD Research Enhancement Fund (September 2014-August 2015): “Klezmer Music of Moldova.”
  • NYU AD Research Enhancement Fund (August 2011-December 2013): “History and Memory in the Traditional Moldovan Wedding Table Song (Cîntec de Masa), ca. 1840-1960.”
  • The Magowan Family Foundation, (2008, 2007, 2002-2004); Beit Shalom Aleichem, (2003); Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, (2001-2002): “Klezmer: Music, History and Memory.”
  • The Littauer Foundation, (2000): “The Klezmer Materials of Jeremiah Hescheles.”
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, (1998-99): “The Indian Style in Ottoman Poetry.”
  • U.S. Department of Education, (1990-92): “Advanced Turkish Teaching Materials.”
  • IREX, (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991): “The Uzbek Oral Epic.”
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, (1985-87): Annotated Translation of “The Book of the Science of Music According to the Alphabetic Notation” by Prince Demetrius Cantemir (1673-1723).
  • American Research Institute in Turkey, (1984): “The Philosophy of Music in Ottoman Turkey.”
  • Princeton University Committee on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, (1984): “Music and Zikr of the Sunni Tarikats of Istanbul;” (1983): “The Ottoman Lyric Form Murabba.’”
  • National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Research Institute in Turkey, (1983): "The Position of Traditional Art Music in Nineteenth Century Turkey.”
  • National Endowment for the Arts, (1978-1979): “Jewish Instrumental Folk Music.”

Research Projects & Collaborations

 

Ottoman & Mevlevi Dervish Music

  • Board Member of the Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae (CMO) project, sponsored by the Deutsches Forschungs Gemeinschaft, under the direction of Prof. Ralf Martin Jager, Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster (2015-2026).
  • Interview for film “Wajd: Music, Politics and Ecstasy” by Amar Chebib (Salam Films),  shot in Istanbul, Aleppo and Abu Dhabi, (February 2012).
  • Co-director Candidature File of the Sema Ceremony of the Mevlevi Order of Dervishes for UNESCO’s Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (2004).
  • Consultant and Co-Editor for the Medimuses Project “Music of the Mediterranean: Modal and Learned Traditions” sponsored by the European Union through the En Chordais School of Thessaloniki. Meetings, workshops and concerts in Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Venice, Madrid, Marseille, London, Cairo, Tunis, Amman (2002-2005); two co-edited volumes on “History” and “Theory and Practice” with Prof. Mahmoud Guettat (Conservatoire Nationale, Tunis).
  • Musical Consultant for the Project in Early Ottoman Music, sponsored by the French Anatolian Research Institute (Istanbul), with Fikret Karakaya (summer, 1993, 1994).
  • Musical Consultant for the Bosphorus Project,  with Ihsan Özgen and Nikiphorus Metaxas, based in Istanbul and Athens (summer, 1989).

Klezmer & Ahkenazic Dance

  • Director, An-sky Institute for Traditional Jewish Expressive Culture, Center for Traditional Music and Dance, New York City (2009-present).
  • Editor (with Michael Lukin, Jerusalem) ”East European Jewish Folk Music” for Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies (series editor David Biale). (2015-16).
  • “Klezmer Music of Moldova,” research trips to Bucharest and Iaşi, (November 2014), and Moldova (July 2015).
  • “History and Memory in the Traditional Moldovan Wedding Table Song (Cîntec de Masa), ca. 1840-1960,” with Professor Diana Bunea, Academy of Music, Chişinau.
  • Research trips to Moldova, November, 2011, May 2012, October 2013.
  • Interviews with Teodor Komann (b. 1930), Moldovan violinist resident in Mainz, Germany, with Christina Crowder (April 14-16, 2011).
  • Interviews with Teodor Komann, along with Alan Bern and the film crew of The Other Europeans (November 2009).
  • Interviews with Emil Croitor, Moldovan accordionist/composer, resident in Tel-Aviv, along with Alan Bern and the film crew of the Other Europeans (2009).
  • Expedition to Moldova (Edinets and Chişinau) as part of the Other Europeans Project, sponsored by the European Union and National Yiddish Book Center, (November 2008).
  • The Yiddish Dance Research Project (Center for Traditional Music and Dance and National Endowment for the Arts), (2007-08).
  • Research on Klezmer and Hasidic music, National Sound Archives, Hebrew University Library and Rubin Academy of Music Archives, (Jerusalem, Spring, 2000).

Workshops, Conferences, & Events

 

Ottoman, Mediterranean, & Asian Topics

  • International Workshop: “A Locally Generated Modernity: the Ottoman Empire in the ‘Long’ Eighteenth Century”, NYU Abu Dhabi Institute (February 19-21, 2018).
  • Board Meeting, Corpus Musicae Ottomanica, University of Münster. (October  27, 2016).

  • International Symposium: “Music of the Arabian Peninsula,” (with Virginia Danielson). NYU AD Institute, (March 1-3, 2015).

  • “Ilyas Mallayev: Remembering the Poet-Laureate of the Bukharan Jews” (December 2009).

Ashkenazic Dance

  • Advanced Workshop in Yiddish Dance and Interview, Eshkolot, Moscow (October 8-10, 2018).
  • Scholar in Residence, Klez Kanada. St. Agathe, Quebec (August 23-28).
  • Advanced Workshop in Yiddish Dance, Yiddish Summer Weimar (August 2015).
  • Advanced Workshop in Yiddish Dance, and Advanced Workshop in Non-Dance Klezmer Repertoire, Yiddish Summer Weimar, (July, 2010, July-August 2011).
  • Yiddish Dance Workshop, Medem Biblioteque, Paris (April 2010).
  • “Ashkenazim Rokdim” (“Dancing Ashkenazim”) workshops held at Beit Avichai, Jerusalem (Spring 2008, 2009, 2010).
  • “Tantshoyz,” (Yiddish Dance), held at the Workman’s Circle, New York City, fall 2009.
  • “Ashkenzic Dance; History and Theory,” Yiddish Summer, Weimar (July, 2009).
  •  “Yiddish Dance”, 92nd Street Y, NYC, (fall 2007).
  • “Tantshoyz” (Yiddish Dance), Manhattan JCC, (fall 2006, fall 2007).
  • Ashkenazic Dance, Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem (December 2002, May 2003).
  • Ashkenazic Dance, Neskaya Foundation, New Hampshire (October 2002).
  • Ashkenazic Music and Dance, KlezFest, London (July 2001, 2002).

Klezmer Music

  • “Music of Dave Tarras and the Klezmer Tradition of Northern Bessarabia” (with Christina Crowder); “Jewish and Moldavian Dances of Northern Bessarabia” (Klez Kanada, August 2013).
  • Student klezmer ensembles in NYU Abu Dhabi (spring 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015).
  • Advanced Workshop in Baroque Klezmer Repertoire (Weimar, July 2012).
  • 2009 Lecture Series of the An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture, held at the Center for Jewish History, New York City:
  • “Beyle-Schaechter-Gottesman: Celebrating a Lifetime in Yiddish Song” (October 2009).
  • “The Multi-Ethnic Music Culture of Moldova” (September 2009).
  • “The Shared Sacred Space” (with Professors Daniel Goffman, Ball St. U. and Eleni Frangakis, CUNY Graduate Center, 92nd Street Y, (October 2005).
  • “Multicultural Musical Encounters,” sponsored by the Multicultural Music Group, with musicians, composers and ethnomusicologists of the Latino, African-American, Chinese and Jewish communities of New York (April 14-20, 2004).
  • Klezmer composition (with Alan Bern) and Ashkenazic dance, KlezKanada (August 2004, 2003).
  • Ashkenazic Music and Dance: Weimar Klezmer Wochen (July 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).

  • Program Co-Director, KlezKanada (St. Agathe, Quebec, August 2000).

Performance

 

Ottoman and Sephardic Music — Performances

  • Ottoman Music with Ensemble Sazkar, Confederation House, Jerusalem, Inbal Theater, Tel-Aviv, June 2010; at International Oud Festival (Jerusalem, November 2010).
  • Ottoman and Ladino Music with Ensemble Sazkar, featuring Claudia Nurit Henig. Inbal Theater, Tel-Aviv (June 2007);
  • Performance with Claudia Nurit Henig at the House of the President for the visit of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Jerusalem, (June, 2007).
  • Artistic director (with Fikret Karakaya) Bezmara Ensemble for early Ottoman music, sponsored by the French Research Institute in Turkey, Istanbul (Summers, 1998 and 1999).
  • Lecture-demonstration “Aesthetics of Ottoman Tanbur Playing,” Kevorkian Center, New York University (February 1, 1995).
  • Concert and public interview-lecture together with Cinucen Tanrikorur (Mevlevi composer and oud-virtuoso), Princeton University (April 4, 1991).
  • Concert with Necdet Yasar (leading tanbur virtuoso), Philadelphia (April 17, 1989).
  • Concert with Necdet Yasar and Ihsan Ozgen Philadelphia Art Museum (February 14, 1988).

Klezmer Music

  • Ashkenaz Festival (with Zilien Biret, Christina Crowder).Toronto. September 2016.
  • Yoni Kaston house concert series,  (with Julien Biret, Christina Crowder). Montreal, March 2016.
  • Participant in filming of Ashkenazic dance by Hungarian/Canadian film crew under Tamas Wormser for film The Wandering Muse. (NYC, October 2012).
  • Performances as cimbalist and repertoire advisor with the Alexander Fiterstein Trio: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rockefeller University, Queens College, Music Mountain Festival, National Yiddish Book Center (September—October 2008, 2009, 2010).
  • Celebration for the Publication of the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, with Eliezer Rosenblatt (April 2008).
  • Concert of Ashkenzic Piyyut with Nitsan Khen Razael, Beit Avichai, Jerusalem (June 2008).
  • Concerts of Khevrisa Ensemble (artistic director and performer): “Under the Canopy of Heaven” at the Festival of Jewish Culture, Krakow, Poland (July 2006), at
  • the Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92nd Street Y (November 2004); Concert Gebow, Amsterdam and the Vredenburg, Utrecht (February 2004); Ittingen Pfingstkonzerte, Switzerland (June 2003); Geneva, Switzerland (June 2003); Ohio State University, (January 2003); Symphony Space, World Music Institute, New York (October 2002); Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto (August 2002); Festival of Jewish Culture,
  • Kracow, Poland (June 2002); Festival Musica dei Popoli, Florence, Italy (October 2001); Utrecht, Haarlem, Groningen (Netherlands, February 2001); Klezmer Music Festival, Ancona, Italy (July, 2000), Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto (August 1999).
  • Concert: David Krakauer, Zev Feldman, Nikki Parott (City University Graduate Center, (January, 2003).

Recordings

 

Klezmer Music - Recordings

  • CD Recording: “The Alexander Fiterstein Trio: Traditional Jewish Chamber and Dance Music,” Music Mountain Festival, August 30, 2009.
  • CD "Khevrisa: European Klezmer Music," Smithsonian Folkways (April 2000).
  • LP (with Andy Statman) “Zev Feldman and Andy Statman: Jewish Klezmer Music," Shanachie Records, 1979.
  • LP (with Andy Statman) “Dave Tarras: Music of the Traditional Jewish Wedding” (Balkan Arts Center, NYC, 1979; reissued as CD by Center for Traditional and Dance, 2007).

Ottoman and Sephardic Music — Recordings

  • CD recording of Ensemble Sazkar (performing on tanbur, santouri and Ladino vocals).
  • CD “Tanburi Isak” (with Fiket Karakaya) for En Chordais (Thessalonika), recorded by the Bezmara Ensemble in Istanbul, (Fall 2003).

Concerts & Concerts Series Presented

 
  • Concert: Ma’youf Bahri Band (Kuwait), NYU AD Institute, March 2, 2015.
  • Concert: Pakistani song-writers “Zeb and Haniya” with klezmer clarinetist Michael Winograd and Patrick Farrell. NYU AD Institute, April 4, 2013.
  • Concert and Lecture: “Musician-Scholars of the Middle East,” (Professors Dariush Talai, Teheran U, Ali Jihad Racy, Münir Nurettin Beken, UCLA), Abu Dhabi Institute (December 2010).
  • Concert-series: “Love and Longing in Jewish Song” (Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman and students, Arboleras, Esti Kenan and Pharaoh’s Daughter), 92nd Street Y (2006-2007).
  • Concert-series: “Shared Sacred Space of the Eastern Mediterranean” (Bezmara, Lalezar, Romeiko Byzantine Choir, the Jerusalem Maftirim Ensemble), 92nd Street Y (2005-2006).
  • Concert-series: “Music and Dance of the Jewish Wedding” (Ashkenaz: Khevrisa, Bukharan: Tofakhon Pinkhasova, North Moroccan: Esti Kenan), 92nd Street Y (2004-2005).
  • Concert/Lecture Series: The Revival of Klezmer and Yiddish Music in New York, 1975-2002 (featuring Khevrisa, Joshua Waletzky, David Krakauer, and the Singing Table). The Baisley Powell Elebash Lectures. Elebash Recital Hall, The Graduate Center City University of New York (January 2003).
  • Turkish and Central Asian Music for the “Silk Road Festival” sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the Agha Khan Foundation, Washington, D.C. (presenter, July 2002).
  • "Musical Bridges: Jewish and Muslim Traditions of Asia," The Jewish Museum, The Free Synagogue of Flushing, New York (presenter and ethnomusicological advisor, March, April 1996).
  • Oral bards from Kazakhstan and Turkey at the Saint Donats Festival in Wales, UK (presenter, July  1996).
  • Presenter of Azerbaijani mugham virtuoso Alim Qasimov for Smithsonian Festival, Washington, D.C.(summer,1988).  
  • Concerts with leading Turkish classical virtuosi, Necdet Yaşar and Ihsan Özgen, Philadephia, New York, Chicago (organizer, 1987-88).
  • Dave Tarras (1897-1989), leading klezmer clarinetist in North America (concert organizer, 1978, 1979, 1980).

Courses

 
  • “Gesture” Doctoral Seminar, co-taught with Michael Beckerman, Music Department, NYU, (spring 2018).
  • “Introduction to Maqam and Usul,” NYU, Abu Dhabi (spring 2015).
  • “Gesture in Speech, Poetry, Music and Dance”, NYU Abu Dhabi, (Core Curriculum, spring 2012—2014).
  • “Instruments in World Musical Cultures”,  NYU Abu Dhabi, (Core Curriculum, spring, fall 2011).
  • “Regional Musics of the Middle East,” NYU Abu Dhabi (fall 2010).
  • “Seminar in Ottoman Turkish Music” and “Workshop in Ottoman Turkish Music,” Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem (spring 2010).
  •  “Introduction to the Music of the Middle East,” Music Department, New York University (fall 2009).
  • “Seminar in Klezmer Music” and “Workshop in Klezmer Music”, Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem (spring 2008-09).
  • “Jewish Performance: Yiddish Dance and Dance Music”,  Department of Performance Studies, New York University (fall 2008).
  • “The Music of Ashkenaz: Form, Meaning and Identity”; “Music of Sufism” Bar Ilan University (spring 2007).
  • “Ottoman Turkish Music”; “Klezmer Music,” Bar Ilan University, Tel-Aviv (2006).
  • “The Musical Map of the Middle East”, Bar Ilan University, Tel-Aviv (2004, 2005).
  • “Music of the Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey” Central European University, Budapest (2003).
  •  “Ottoman Music”, Center for the Classical Music and Dance of the Orient, Jerusalem (2000).
  • “Music of Sufism”, Center for the Classical Music and Dance of the Orient, Jerusalem (2000-2007).
  • “Music and Dances of the Ashkenazim”, Beit Shalom Aleichem, Tel-Aviv (2002-2003).
  • “Modus: Maqam,” and “Klezmer Music, Bar Ilan University (2001).
  • "Klezmer Music: The Old World and its Legacy", New York University (2000).
  • "Music and Text in the Islamic Middle East" (1988-1997), including "Musical Folklore of Central Asia" (1990) and "Music of Sufism" (1991).
  • "Modern Middle Eastern Literature in Translation" (1986-1998): University of Pennsylvania (team-taught).
  • "Klezmer Music in Eastern Europe and America", Princeton University (1985).

Lectures & Conference Papers

 

Middle Eastern Music

  • “Ottoman Musical Modernity in the ‘Long’ Eighteenth Century,” NYU Abu Dhabi Institute (February 18, 2018).
  • “The Multiple Systems of Ottoman Musical Notation: Western Influence or Modernity within the Culture of the East?”,  20th Congress of the International Musicological Society, Tokyo University of the Arts (March 23, 2017).
  • “The Sabbath Shiro Repertoire of Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan.” Silk Road House, Berkeley (December  4, 2016). 
  • Ceremonial Address, Opening Festivities, Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae,  Münster: “Ottoman Music: Creation and Notation of a New Musical Standard” (October 30, 2015).
  • “Relations of Melody and Usul Rhythmic Cycles in Ottoman Court Music,” American University of Sharjah, UAE (April, 2015).
  • “Compositions in Usul Zencir 120/4, the Longest Rhythmic Cycle in Ottoman Music,” Rhythm Workshop, NYU Abu Dhabi, (October 12-15, 2014).
  • Keynote Speech: “The Art of Melodic Extension Within and Beyond the Usul”, for  conference “Rhythmic Cycles and Structures in the Art Music of the Middle East”, Westphalian Wilhelms University Münster, (February 28, 2014).
  • “Seventeenth Century Musical Forms: Itri Between Ali Ufki, Evliya Çelebi and Cantemir,” Conference: Itri and his Era: an International Symposium. Istanbul University, (December 3, 2012).
  • “Itri and Cantemir: a Comparison of the Works of Two Later 17TH Century Composers as They Appear in 19th Century Sources and in Cantemir’s Manuscript,”Conference: Itri the Great Composer, Fatih University, (23-24 November 2012).
  • “Musical Populism in the Sixteenth Century Ottoman Empire,” Conference: Poetry in Context: Literature. Music and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire during the Early Modern Period, Tel Aviv University, (20-21 November, 2012).
  • “Dionysian and Apollonian in Ottoman Courtly Performance (ca. 1650-1790).” Conference: Courts and Performance in the Pre-Modern Middle East, NYU AD, (February 28, 2012).
  • “The Musical Renaissance of Late 17th Century Ottoman Turkey and its Parallels with and Differences from Safavid Persia.” Conference: Writing the History of Ottoman Music, Orient Institut/Istanbul and Conservatory of Istanbul Technical University, (November 25, 2011).
  • “Women Bards (Zhyrau) Among Formerly Nomadic Kazakhs of the Aral Sea Region”, in Womens’ Voices in the Muslim World, NYU AD Institute, (April 28, 2011).
  • “Creativity, Continuity and Disruption in an Oral Musica“Ottoman Musical Modernity in the ‘Long’ Eighteenth Century,” NYU Abu Dhabi Institute (February 18, 2018).
  • l Culture: an Appraisal of the Documents of Wojciech Bobowski/Ali Ufki Bey (1610-1675) in the History of Ottoman Music,” NYU AD Humanities Works in Progress, (February 1, 2011).
  • “The Mevlevi Dervish Ritual: Past and Present,” Near Eastern Studies Center, UCLA (January 2010).
  • “The Documents of Ali Ufki Bey as Contributions Toward a History of Ottoman Music,”
  • at the conference “‘Ali Ufki Bey/Wojciech Bobowski”, Istanbul, ITU, (February 2010).
  • “The Mevlevi Dervish Ritual: Past and Present”, Center for the Study of Middle East and Islamic Civilization, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (October 2008).
  • “Sabbath Shiro:  Paraliturgical Hymns from Shahri Sabz, Uzbekistan”, Beit Avichai, Jerusalem (April 2008).
  • “Music and Ritual of the Halveti Dervishes”, Haifa University (March 2007).
  • “Compositions of Tanburi Isak Fresco-Romano”, Jewish Music Forum, Center for Jewish History, New York City, (October 2005).
  • “Compositional Structure of Ottoman Music,” Tel Aviv University, Music Department (March 2004).
  • “The Oud in Ottoman Turkish Music,” for the Medimuses International Oud meeting, Thessaloniki (November 2002).
  • “Form and Meaning in the Mevlevi Ayin,” Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Studies (March 2001).
  • "Sacred and Secular in Ottoman Turkish Music," The Center for the Classical Music and Dance of the Orient, Jerusalem, (April 2000).
  • "Multiculturalism and Multiethnicity in the Music of the Ottoman Empire," Rotterdam Arts Council, Netherlands (October 1999).
  • “Bukharan music and poetry of Ilyas Mallayev,” lecture-series and concert, Haverford College (March 1998).
  • “The Ritual and Music of the Whirling Dervishes,” University of Texas, Austin (October 1998).
  • "From Ottoman Music to Turkish Classical Music," Walters Gallery, Baltimore (November 1997).
  • "Stability and Change in Ottoman Art Music," Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, Istanbul  (November 1997).
  • Interviewed by New York Times for article on Ilyas Mallayev, Bukharan Jewish master musician and poet (February 1996).
  • "Islamic Music and National Musics: 1790-1950," lecture and introduction for the performance of Bukharan poet-musician Ilyas Mallayev for the symposium "Islam and the West," University of Georgia, Athens GA (January 1994).
  • “The Mutual Penetration of Neo-Byzantine and Ottoman Music,” The Onassis Center for Hellenic Studies, New York University (February 1990).

Klezmer Music

  • “Hearing Ashkenaz”, a Discussion on Klezmer: Music, History and Memory led by James Loeffler, Nathaniel Deutsch and Lyudmilla Sholokhova. Association for Jewish Studies Meeting, Washington, D.C. (December 18, 2017).
  • “Human Transmission and Musical Resources for Klezmer Music in America, ca. 1960-2017,” for conference “American Culture and the Jewish Experience in Music”, UCLA (November 6, 2017).
  • Book Presentation, Klezmer: Music, History and Memory, Dostoevsky Library, Moscow (October 10, 2017).
  • Book Presentation: Klezmer: Music History and Memory. Jewish Music Research Centre, National Library of Israel, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (May 10, 2017).
  • “Gesture, Sound and Movement in Traditional Jewish Music and Dance,” with Professor Judit Frigyesi (Bar Ilan University). Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo (March 18, 2017).
  • “The Choreography of Jewishness: Klezmer Music, Dance and Gesture in Ashkenazic Culture.” Museum of Jewish Montreal (February 16, 2017).
  • “Klezmer: Music, History and Memory: Cultural and Aesthetic Dimensions”.  With Deborah Strauss (violin). New York Public Library (December 22, 2016).
  • “Klezmer: Music, History and Memory,” a Discussion led by James Loeffler (U Virginia) and Glenn Dynner (Sarah Lawrence).   Jewish Music Forum at the Center for Jewish History, NYC (December 14, 2016).
  •  “The Significance of the Klezmer Phenomenon in Eastern Europe (1600-1940.” Columbia University (December 8, 2016).
  •  “Klezmer: Music, History and Memory”. Judah Magnes Museum, Berkeley (December 1, 2016).
  •  “The Klezmer as Mediator Between the Religious and the Secular: Musical Fusion and Cultural Choice in Ashkenaz.” CUNY Graduate Center, NYC (November 16, 2016).
  •  “The Klezmer as Mediator.” University of Pennsylvania (November 14, 2016). 
  • Keynote Talk: “Musical Sources and Varying Diachronic Levels of HIP: a Comparison of East Ashkenazic, Ottoman Turkish and Romanian Urban Musics,” for Yiddish Weimar Conference on “Yiddish Music—Historically Informed Performance Practice”. And conference paper: “The Skotshne Between Dance, Composition and Performance.” (July 19-22, 2016).
  • “A Vanishing Sound: Jewish Musical Resonance in Traditional Moldavian Dance, 1800-1950. Center for Jewish History (January 7, 2013).
  • “Music of the Lautari and Klezmorim in Istanbul and New York,” Academy of Music,  Theater and Fine Arts, Chişinau (Moldova), (November 8, 2011).
  • “The Moldavian Wedding Table Song: a Case of Intercultural Translation Among Romanians, Jews and Greeks, from Bessarabia to New York.” UCLA (June 7, 2011).
  • “Turkish Elements in the Formation of Urban Professional Music in Moldova: The Evidence of Francois Rouschitzki’s “Musique Orientale: 42 Chansons et danses moldaves, vallques, grecs et turcs.” Iasi, 1834, for conference: The Ottoman Past in the Balkan Present: Music and Mediation, University of Athens (September-October 2010).
  • “Khasene: the East European Jewish Wedding,” Conference on Jewish Music, Potsdam, Germany (July, 2010).
  • “Music in Ashkenazic Society: ca. 1600-1920”, Association for Jewish Studies Meeting, Washington, D.C. (December 2008).
  • “The Sher, an Archaic Ashkenazic Contra-Dance,” Association for Jewish Studies Meeting, Toronto, (December, 2007)
  • “Rediscovering the Dance of Klezmer Music”, Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (October 2008).
  • “The Instrumental (Klezmer) Repertoire of Eastern Europe in Relation to the Eastern Ashkenazic Wedding (early 17th to early 20th centuries)”, Association for Jewish Studies Meeting, Toronto (December 2007).
  • Symposium (with Lee Ellen Friedland and Prof. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett): “The Yiddish Dance Research Symposium: Defining Yiddish Dance, Secular, Sacred, Borrowed and Transformed.”  Center for Traditional Music and Dance and New York University Department of Performance Studies (December 9, 2007).
  • Lectures: “Defining Yiddish Dance—Contexts, Genres, Gestures” and “The Sher and Contra-Dance,” in the Yiddish Dance Research Symposium.
  • “Some Sociological Aspects of  the Music and Dance of the 19th Century Jewish Wedding in Eastern Europe,” Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City (November 2007).
  • “Romanian Gypsy and Greek Characteristics of 19th and 20th Century Klezmer Music in Europe and America,” Haifa University (June 2007).
  • “North and South in the Klezmer Dance Repertoire: Some Reflections on the Forms Redl, Freylekhs and Volokh in Kiselgof’s Klezmer Collection from Eastern Belarus (1915),” Jewish Music Research Center, Ashkenazic Study Group, Hebrew University,  Jerusalem (June 2007).
  •  “Balkanic Elements in the Klezmer Repertoire”, University of Kansas, Lawrence Kansas (April 2007).
  • “Structure of the East European Jewish Wedding”, Tel-Aviv University (December 2005).
  • “Music of the Traditional East European Jewish Wedding”, Ittingen Pfingstkonzerte, Switzerland (June 2003).
  • “The Khosidl: Interface of Religious and Secular in European Klezmer Music,” International Conference: Form and Content—Music and Piyyut Between Conservation and Innovation. Bar-Ilan University (May 2003).
  • “Music of the Sher, Core of the Secular Ashkenazic Dance Repertoire”, Jewish Music Research Center, Jerusalem (April 2003).
  • “The Connection between Klezmer Music and Jewish Prayer,” Public Lecture with Judit Frigyesi (Bar Ilan University), Wesleyan University (October 2002).
  • Lectures on Klezmer Music at Bar Ilan, Tel-Aviv and Hebrew Universities (March-May 2000).
  • "The Nature of the Southern Klezmer Repertoire," Public Lectures, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Groningen, Antwerp (January 1999).
  • "From Bessarabia to Istanbul and Back: Interactions Between the Constantinopolitan Kasap/Hassapiko and the Klezmer Freylekhs," Klezmer Music Workshop, International Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem (July 1997).

Turkish and Central Asian Literatures

  • “To Be or Not to Be: Existence and Non-Existence in Gazels of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Century”, Divinity School, University of Chicago (April 2008).
  • “Tradition and Modernity in Turkish Culture: a Comparison of Music and Literature,” and “Sources for the Teaching of Ottoman and Turkish Literature in English,” New York University Summer Institute: History and Historical Imagination – Interpreting Middle Eastern Literature (July 1997).
  • International Workshop in Ottoman Poetry, University of Pennsylvania (September 1996), with Walter Andrews, Robert Dankoff, Mehmet Kalpaklı, Paul Losensky, Michael Glünz.
  • "A Bukharan Jewish Master in New York: Poetry of Ilyas Mallayev," Haverford College: (April 1996).
  • “Techniques of Text-Generation in the Uzbek Oral Dastan: the Interface of Orality and Literacy,” Conference: Epic and the Contemporary World, University of Wisconsin, Madison (April 1994).
  • “Translating the Poetry of Na’ili,” Haverford College (November 1994).
  • “Literature and Ethnic Identity in Central Asia, 1700-1800,” for the conference “Central Asia and its Borderlands,” University of Arizona, Tuscon (February 1994).
  • “Sufism and Nihilism in the Poetry of Na’ili”, Middle East Studies Association (1992).
  • “The Speaking Persona in a Gazel of Na’ili”, Middle East Studies Association (1990).
 

Ottoman Turkish Music — Books

  • Handbook: Mavo le-Musiqah ha-Turkit Ottomanit (“Introduction to Ottoman Turkish Music,” vol. 8 of Ha-Musiqah ha-‘Aravit be-Mizrah ha-Tikhon (“Arabic Music in the Middle East”.     Edited by Naftali Venger and Amatzia Bar-Yosef. Tel-Aviv: The Open University, 2015.
  • Ottoman Turkish Music Anthology. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (2001).
  • Music of the Ottoman Court: Makam, Composition and the Early Ottoman Instrumental Repertoire. Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung (1996).
  • Co-editor of Feldman, Guettat: Music in the Mediterranean: Modal and Classical Traditions. Volume I: History, Volume II: Theory and Practice. Thessaloniki: EnChordais (2005, unpublished).

Ottoman Music — Articles, Liner Notes, Reviews

  • “Itri’s ‘Nühüft Sakil’ in the Context of Ottoman Peşrevs of the Seventeenth Century”. For Stokes, M. and Harris, R. (eds.), Tuning the past: essays in honour of Owen Wright. London: Ashgate, 2018: 73-82.
  • “The Art of Melodic Extension Within and Beyond the Usul,” in Rhythmic Cycles and Structures in the Art Music of the Middle East, edited by Zeynep Helvacı, Jacob Olley and Ralf Martin Jaeger.Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2017: 154-176.
  • “The Musical ‘Renaissance’ of Late Seventeenth Century Ottoman Turkey: Reflections on the Musical Materials of Ali Ufki Bey (ca. 1610-1675), Hafiz Post (d. 1694), and the ‘Maraghi’ Repertoire,” in Greve, M. (eds.), Writing the History of Ottoman Music, Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2015: 87-138.
  • “Forward” to Pennanen, Poulos and Theodosiou (eds.), Ottoman Intimacies, Balkan Musical Realities. (Helsinki: Finnish Institute at Athens, 2013), i-ii.
  • Review of Maureen Jackson, Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song, Stanford University Press, 2013, in IJMES, vol, 46/03, (2014), 611-613.
  • “Çalgılar ve Çalgı Icraları” (translation of “Instruments and Instrumentalists” from Feldman, 1996, Part I, Chapter 2), Porte Akademik: Müzik ve Dans Araştırmaları Dergisi, Yıl 3, Sayı 2: “Organoloji & Organology.”  Istanbul: ITU, 2012, 162-215.
  • “17. Yüzyılın müzikal formları: Ali Ufki, Evliya Çelebi ve Kantemiroğlu arasında Itri,” (“Seventeenth Century Musical Forms: Itri Between Ali Ufki, Evliya Çelebi and Cantemir”), in E.Ayvaz, I. Baliç (eds.), Itri ve Dönemine Disiplinlararası Bakışlar. Istanbul: OMAR, 2012, 87-94.
  • “Mysticism, Memory and History in the Mevlevi Ayin”,  International Mevlana Symposium Papers. Istanbul: Motto Press, 2010: 1209-1222.
  •  “Necdet Yaşar,” in Gonca Tokuz (ed.), Tanburi Necdet Yaşar: Anılar, Dostlar. Istanbul 2009, pp. 210-216.
  • In Feldman, Guettat (eds.), vol. I: History: (in press) “The Social Conditions for the Emergence of Ottoman Music”; “Creation of the Formal and Genre System of Ottoman Music”; “Music of the Mevlevi  Dervish Ceremony: The First Selam of the Saba Ayin of Ismail Dede Efendi (1823)”, “Postscript to the Volume of History.”
  •  In volume II: Theory and Practice (in press)
  • “Ottoman Music of the Modern Era (1839-1923)”;“The Functioning Repertoire; Organization, Elements of Form: Ottoman Turkey”
  • “An Appraisal of the Works of Tanburi Isak Fresko-Romano (1745-1814)” in Tanburi Isak, EnChordais CD (2005)
  • “Ottoman Music,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan, vol. 18 (2001): 809-815.
  • In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, New York and London: Routledge, vol. 6, (2002): “Ottoman Turkish Music: Genre and Form,” 113-128; “Music in Performance: Who Are the Whirling Dervishes?” 107-112; “Manifestations of the Word: Poetry and Song in Turkish Sufism” 189-197.
  • “Structure and Evolution of the Mevlevi Ayin: the Case of the Third Selam” in Hammarlund, Olson and Özdalga (ed.), Sufism, Music and Society in Turkey and the Middle East. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute, (2001): 49-65.
  • “Hala Gizemini Koruyan bir Besteci Itri” (“Itri, a Composer Who Still Keeps His Secrets”), Sanat Dünyamız. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi, no. 73 (1999), 250-54.
  • Essay for "Bosphorus 1997: Ottoman Instrumental Music." Yapi ve Kredi Bank, Istanbul.
  • “Ottoman Sources on the Development of the Taksim,” Yearbook for Traditional Music, vol. XXV, (1993):1-28.
  • “Musical Genres and Zikir of the Sunni Tarikats of Istanbul," in R. Lifchez (ed.),  The Dervish Lodge: Art, Architecture, and Sufism in Ottoman Turkey, University of California Press, (1992): 187-202.
  • Notes for "The Necdet Yasar Ensemble: Music of Turkey." Music of the World CD, (1992).
  • "Jewish Liturgical Music in Turkey," Turkish Music Quarterly, vol.3, no. 1, (1990):10-13.
  • “Cultural Authority and Authenticity in the Turkish Repertoire.” Asian Music 22 (1), (1990/91): 73-112.
  • “Mehter,” The Encyclopedia of Islam, VI/113-114, Leiden, E.J. Brill, (1990): 73-112.
  • “Ottoman Turkish Music,” Maqam: Music of the Islamic World and its Influences. New York: Alternative Museum (1984), 21-24.

 

Klezmer Music — Books & Works in Progress

  • Klezmer: Music, History and Memory (Oxford University Press, 2016).
  • Untold Stories: Klezmer Music of Bessarabia and Historical Moldova, a Transnational Journey Through Istanbul to America. (In progress).
  • With Michael Lukin, “East European Jewish Folkmusic”, for Oxford Online Bibliographies in Jewish Studies, edited by Naomi Seidman (2017).

Klezmer Music & Ashkenazic Dance — Articles

  • “The Rise and Evolution of the Klezmer Profession from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century in Bohemia and the Polish Commonwealth,” in Jewish Musical Cultures in Europe, 1500-1750, edited by Diana Matut. Leiden: Brill Press (2017, in press).
  • “Khasene: the East European Wedding and its Music”, in Jascha Nemtsov (ed.), Jüdische Musik als Dialog der Kulturn/Jewish Music as a Dialogue of Cultures, , Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowtiz 2013: 15-42.
  • “The Klezmer Tsimbl (Cimbal)”, Porte Akademik: Müzik ve Dans Araştırmaları Dergisi, Yıl 3, Sayı 2: “Organoloji & Organology.”  Istanbul: ITU, 2012: 216-219.
  • "What is Jewish Dance?”, Jewish Ideas Daily (online, May 9, 2012).
  • “Traditional Instrumental Music;” “Dance: an Overview;” “Traditional Dance;” “Tsimbl,” The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe . New Haven: Yale University Press, (2008).
  • “Remembrance of Things Past: Klezmer Musicians of Galicia, 1870-1940,” Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, Volume Sixteen, Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (2003): 29-57.
  • "Klezmer," section IV of the article “Jewish Music” in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, London: Macmillan (2001), vol. 13: 88-90.
  • “Klezmer Revived: Dave Tarras Plays Again” in Ilana Abramovitch and Sean Galvin (eds.), Jews of Brooklyn. Brandeis University Press (2000): 186-189.
  • “Music of the European Klezmer,” in Khevrisa: European Klezmer Music. Smithsonian-Folkways, Washington D.C., (2000): 2-29.
  • "Fidl: Klezmer Violin," Essay for Traditional Crossroads, CD by Alicia Svigals. (1996), 1-15.
  • “Bulgareasca, Bulgarish, Bulgar: the Transformation of a Klezmer Dance Genre,” Ethnomusicology, vol. 38: I, Winter (1994): 1-36. Revised version in Mark Slobin (ed.), American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots. Berkeley: University of California Press (2002): 84-124.
  • “Klezmer-Muzik, Recordings from the YIVO Archives,” notes for LP produced by Henry Sapoznik (the first reissue of klezmer recordings, Folkways, 1981) 

Ottoman, Turkish, & Central Asian Literatures

  • The ‘Indian Style’ in Seventeenth Century Ottoman Poetry: Imitation and Interpretation (Book Manuscript)

  •  “The Indian Style in the Ottoman Literary Canon,” in S.R. Faruqi and A. Korangy (eds.), Sabk: Essays on Form, Manner and Stylistics of Metaphor in Persian and Indo-Persian Literatures (in press)

  • “Turkish Literature;” “Central Asian Literature;” “Chaghatay Literature:” “Turkmen Literature;” “Kazakh Literature,” Encyclopedia Britannica, (2011).
  • “Dough of the Body, Mirror of the Heart: a Comparison of Two Nazire Gazels of 17th Century Turkey.” Festschrift for Walter Andrews, edited by Mehmet Kalpaklı, Journal of Turkish Studies 34, summer 2010, pp. 253-270.
  • "Genre and Narrative Strategy in the Seven Planets of Mir Ali Shir Nava'i," Edebiyat vol. 10, (1999): 243-278.
  • "Time, Memory and Autobiography in The Clock Setting Institute of Ahmed Hamdi Tanpınar," Edebiyat vol. 8 (Spring 1998), 37-61.
  • "Imitatio in Ottoman Poetry: Three Ghazals of the Mid-Seventeenth Century," The Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 21, no. 2 (Fall 1997), 41-58.
  • “Two Performances of the Return of Alpamish”, Oral Tradition, 12/2 (1997), 337-365.
  • Translations of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Refik Halit Karay and Yahya Kemal Beyatlı for Kemal Sılay (ed.), An Anthology of Turkish Literature.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press (1996): 299-308, 384-390.
  • "The Celestial Sphere, the Wheel of Fortune and Fate in the Gazels of Nâ'ilî and Bâkî", The International Journal of Middle East Studies, 28/2 (May 1996), 193-215. 
  • "Mysticism, Didacticism and Authority in the Liturgical Poetry of the Halvetî Dervishes of Istanbul," Edebiyat, N.S. vol. II, no. 1 (1993), 243-265.
  • "Interpreting the Poetry of Makhtumquli,"  in Jo Ann Gross (ed.),  Muslims in Central Asia: Expressions of Identity and Change, Duke University Press (1992): pp. 167-189.
  • “A Musical Model for the Structure of the Ottoman Gazel,” Edebiyat, N.S. vol. 1, no. 1, (1987), pp. 71-89.
  • “The Motif-Line in the Uzbek Oral Epic,” Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher 55 (1983), 1-15.