Central European University A Program for University Teachers, Advanced Ph.D. Students, Researchers and Professionals in the Social Sciences and Humanities Summer University

Walter Zev Feldman

Education

Ph. D. in Central Asian Literature (Uzbek and Chaghatay) from Columbia University, 1980. Dissertation: The Uzbek Oral Epic: Documentation of Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Bards (1980).
B.A in Oriental Languages from City College of New York (1970).

Research Fellowships and Other Awards

Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (2001-2002)׃ׂThe Klezmer and His Music.
Littauer Foundation (2000): "European Klezmer Music: the Materials of Jeremiah Hescheles."
National Endowment for the Humanities (1998-99): "The Indian Style in Seventeenth Century Ottoman Poetry."
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).
National Endowment for the Arts (through the Balkan Arts Center): "Jewish Instrumental Folk Music" (1978-79).

Employment

Fellow, Jewish Music Research Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (2002-2003)
Visiting Professor, Bar Ilan University, Department of Musicology, Spring 2001.
Visiting Professor, New York University, Music Department, Fall 2000.
Coordinator for Turkish and Turkic Programs, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, 1986 to 1998.
Visiting Professor, Department of Music, Princeton University, Spring 1985. 
Assistant Professor, Princeton University, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (Turkish and Ottoman), 1981-1984.

Research activities related to Ottoman and Central Asial Music

Advising the Bezmara Ensemble of early Ottoman music, sponsored by the French Research Institute in Turkey, Istanbul. (Summers, 1998 and 1999).
Day-long lecture-series and concert on the Bukharan music and poetry of Ilyas Mallayev at Haverford College (March 1998).
Presenter and ethnomusicologist for the concerts "Musical Bridges: Jewish and Muslim Traditions of Asia," The Jewish Museum, The Free Synagogue of Flushing (New York, March, April 1996).
Presenter of oral bards from Kazakhstan and Turkey at the Saint Donats Festival in Wales, UK (July 1996).
Arranging of concerts and performances with leading Turkish classical virtuosi, Necdet Yasar and Ihsan Ozgen (1987-88).

Field Research related to Asian Music

1994-1997 fieldwork among musicians and cantors of the Bukharan-Jewish community of New York.
1991 Summer, research on the Kazakh Epic in West Kazakhstan research on the Uzbek Epic in Southern Uzbekistan (Qashqa Darya and Surkhan Darya regions).
1990 Summer, research on the Uzbek Epic in Southern Uzbekistan; research on the epic and music of Khwarezm.
1982-87 Summers, field research on Turkish art music and Sufi music in Istanbul.

Research and organizer – Klezmer Music

Consultant for the project on the klezmer music of Moldova, sponsored by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (New York, 2000-2001).
Program Co-Director, KlezKanada (2001).
Worshop on Jewish cimbal-playing (with Joshua Horowitz and Stuart Brotman, 2000).
Organizing of interview materials with Jeremiah Hescheles (b. 1910), former klezmer ensemble leader from Poland, sponsored by the Littauer Foundation (spring-summer, 2000).
Research on Klezmer and Hasidic music, National Sound Archives, Hebrew University Library and Rubin Academy of Music Archives, (Jerusalem, Spring, 2000).
Interviews with Jeremiah Hescheles (New York, May 1998-February 1999).
Study and interviews with Dave Tarras and Sam Beckerman sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (1978-79).

Musical Performances

Tour of Netherlands with Khevrisa Ensemble (February 2001).
Performance with Khevrisa Ensemble, Klezmer Musica Festival, Ancona, Italy (July, 2000).
Performances with Khevrisa and David Krakauer (St. Agathe, Quebec, August 2000).
Performance with Khevrisa, Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto (August 1999).
Performance with David Krakauer, Tonic (March 1999).
Concerts with Dave Tarras (1987-1989), leading klezmer clarinetist in North America (1978, 1979, 1980).

Recordings

LP (with Andy Statman): "Jewish Klezmer Music", Shanachie Records, 1979.

CD: "Khevrisa: European Klezmer Music." Smithsonian Folkways (April 2000).

Numerous scholarly and public lectures, festivals, coordination and direction of international teaching projects.

Publications -- Ottoman, Turkish and Central Asian Literatures:

Book Manuscript: The "Indian Style" in Seventeenth Century Ottoman Poetry: Imitation and Interpretation (1999).

Articles

Articles for Encyclopedia Britannica (2002):ׂTurkish Literature, ׂCentral Asian Literature, Chaghatay Literature, Turkmen Literature, Kazakh Literature.

"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 Tanpinar," 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.

Translations of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpץnar, Refik Halit Karay and Yahya Kemal Beyatlץ for Kemal Sץlay (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," The International Journal of Middle East Studies, 28/2 (May 1996), 193-215.

Editing of Khayrulla Ismatulla, Modern Literary Uzbek. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.

"Mysticism, Didacticism and Authority in the Liturgical Poetry of the Halvet" 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.

"Mukhtar Auezov" for the Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth Century, New York: Frederick Ungar, 1981, pp. 143-144.

Publications – Middle Eastern and Central Asian Music

Books:

Ottoman Turkish Music Anthology. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. (Istanbul, 2001).

Music of the Ottoman Court: Makam, Composition and the Early Ottoman Instrumental Repertoire. (Intercultural Music Studies 10). Berlin: VWB--Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, 1996.

Articles:

Article for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2002): "Ottoman Music" "Structure and Evolution of the Mevlevi Ayin: The Case of the Third Selam", in Anders Hammarlund, Elizabeth Ozdalga (ed.),Tasavvuf, Music and Social Change in Turkey and the Middle East. Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute (Istanbul, 2001).

Articles for The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (2000): "Genre and Form in Ottoman Tukish Music," "Poetry and Song in Turkish Sufism: Manifestation of the Word" "Ismail Dede Efendi" "Who are the Whirling Dervishes?"

Essay for "Bosphorus 1997: Ottoman Instrumental Music." Yapi ve Kredi Bank, Istanbul.

"Ottoman Sources Concerning the Development of Taksim," Traditional Music, vol. 25, 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, pp. 187-202.

Notes for "The Necdet Yasar Ensemble: Music of Turkey." Music of the World CD, 1992.

"Musical/Cultural Authority and the Turkish Repertoire," Asian Music, vol. XXII-1, 1991, pp. 73-112.

"Jewish Liturgical Music in Turkey," Turkish Music Quarterly, vol.3, no. 1, 1990, pp.10-13.

"A Musical Model for the Structure of the Ottoman Gazel," in Edebiyat, N.S. vol. 1, No. 1, 1987, pp.71-89.

"The Motif-Line in the Uzbek Oral Epic." Ural-Altaische Jahrbucher, vol. 55 (1983), pp. 1-19.

Publications – Klezmer Music:

Projected Book: The Klezmer and His Music: The Legacy of Eastern Europe. "Klezmer" (New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2000, in press).

Articles: ׂ

Article for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2002): "Klezmer Music"

"The Music of the European Klezmer", in Khevrisa: European Klezmer Music. Smithsonian-Folkways CD 40486, 2000.

Notes to Alicia Svigals: Fidl, Klezmer Violin, Traditional Crossroads CD 4286, 1997.

"The Transformation of Klezmer Dance Genre: Bulgareasca, Bulgarish, Bulgar." Ethnomusicology, vol. 38: I, Winter 1994, 1-36.

Notes for Klezmer-Muzik, Recordings from the YIVO Archives, produced by Henry Sapoznik (the first reissue of klezmer recordings, Folkways, 1981).

"The Theoretic Basis for the Definition of the ‘Moldavian’ Nationality," in The Soviet West (Praeger, 1975).

Languages

spoken: Turkish, Uzbek, Kazakh, Hebrew, Russian, Yiddish, Romanian.

research: Ottoman, Chaghatay, Persian, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Uighur, French, German.