Maurice Amado Program in Sephardic Studies

Sponsored by the
UCLA Center for Jewish Studies
Maurice Amado Program in Sephardic Studies

Cosponsored by the
The UCLA Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music

This lecture-demonstration explores the linked histories of Istanbul, its Jewish community, and historical musical traces of multi-religious music-making in Ottoman and Turkish society.  Author of the newly published Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song (Stanford UP) which is the winner of The National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Culture, 2013, Jackson focuses on the Jewish religious repertoire known as the Maftirim, which developed in interaction with Ottoman court music.   Ethnomusicologist and oud master, Münir Beken, will bring to life the Turkish musical forms at the heart of Jackson’s study.

Dr. Maureen Jackson is author of Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song (Stanford University Press, 2013) based on her ethnographic and archival research in Istanbul.  She received the Sabancı International Research Award 2nd Prize in 2008 as well as grants from the Fulbright Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Turkish Cultural Foundation.  She served as ACLS New Faculty Fellow at Carleton College and Harry Starr Fellow at Harvard University, focusing on music in Jewish life.  Dr. Jackson is currently working on her second book based on research in the Mediterranean port city of Izmir, Turkey.

Dr. Münir Beken is a composer, conductor, music scholar, and virtuoso ud player who has performed in venues across the United States, Europe, and Turkey.  Dr. Beken was one of the founding members of the State Turkish Music Ensemble.  A professor of world music theory and composition at UCLA, he composed a Triple Concerto featuring the eminent violinist Shlomo Mintz.  Pacific Serenades commissioned his “Memories of a Shoehorn” in Los Angeles and Issa Sonus Chamber Music Ensemble featured several of his compositions in their concerts in New York City and dedicated their upcoming CD entirely to his compositions.