Musical Tradition as a Cohesive Force in a Community in Transition: The Case of the Karaites

Abstract

In his discussion of the process of change, Bruno Nettl lists a selection of conditions of culture that have made rapid changes typical of the twentieth century, adding that it may be noted that some of these characteristics could conceivably also encourage stability as well as (Nettl 1983:179). One of the characteristics mentioned is large scale migration, though not of entire culture units (ibid.). The emigration of the Karaite community of Cairo, Egypt, during the period 1948-1970 (and especially between 1956 and 1967) offers an opportunity for a case study of the changes of musical culture effected by a radical displacement of an entire culture unit within a relatively short time span and of the central role music has played in the reorganization of the community in Israel and the United States, the chief destinations of the immigrants. The present paper is a comparative study of the process of transmission and change in the traditional music of the Karaites in their two new centers. The process has been investigated in its broad sense, with Merriam's model of concept-behavior-sound as the point of departure (Merriam 1964:32-33), since changes or lack of them in the repertory are closely related to the overall concept of the function of music in communal life, and behavior has been found to be dependent on new physical and environmental conditions. The Karaite informants have been highly rational, articulate, and critical of their new conditions so that emic interpretation has proved itself as applicable and useful in the method of research.