David Buzaglo (born 1903) was a Moroccan-born singer, poet, and Rabbi. He is most notably known for his performance and composition of piyyutim. Piyyutim is a Jewish religious song. With the rise of interest in studying the topic since the early 20th century scholarship has devoted more time into finding out who the composers are of commonly sung piyyutim[1]. The most prolific time period of piyyutim occurred during the 10th-13th centuries where piyyutim were sung by choirs and heavily studied. When Jews were forced to leave the Iberian peninsula in 1492 A.D. many of the traditions of piyyutim came with the expulsion of the Spanish Jewry. The understanding and practice of Piyyutim from the Spanish school carried over in other North African and European communities, especially in Italy as Ezra Fleischer points out[2]. One composer and teacher of piyyutim was Buzaglo. Buzaglo chose to performance as a solo act, not wish much accompaniment on stage with him. Through his devout Jewish faith he performed many for a large audience of both followers of Judaism, and those who were not Jewish. In the later years of his life Buzaglo went blind. He attributed his blindness to his acts, believing it was a punishment.[3] Buzaglo’s songs become famous among his followers, creating an unique religious atmosphere for his listeners. People would come from all around to listen to his piyyutim. Here is an example from David Hasan who wrote and performed piyyutim in the 18th century:
"He who chooses the Torah, and Moses His servant, And Israel His people, His flock, that He pastures, And the prophets of truth, who will come and proclaim His righteous deeds to the coming generation"[4]
These lines highlighting themes found in piyyutim, that being of a religious sentiment. The call to pastures, flocks and generations to come echo ideas found in the Torah. These types of themes would be the same ones that Buzaglo would be thinking of when composing new songs.
Notes
edit- ^ Schmelzer, Menahem. "The Contribution of the Genizah to the Study of Liturgy and Poetry." Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 63 (1997)
- ^ Van Bekkum, Wout Jac. "The Hebrew Liturgical Poetry of Byzantine Palestine: Recent Research and New Perspectives." Prooftexts 28, no. 2 (2008)
- ^ Songs of Love - Poet Rabbi David Buzaglo. Directed by Rafael Balalu. Kanopy. 2015.
- ^ Elbaz, André E., and Ephraim Hazan. "Three Unknown "Piyyutim" by David Ben Ḥasin." AJS Review 20, no. 1 (1995): 87-97.