Yom Kippur Liturgy: Kal Nidre, Syrian Style
Yechiel Nahari
2015
Credits
Yechiel Nahari, Kal Nidre, July 16, 2015, YouTube.com.
Jews around the world chant Kal Nidre, also known as Kol Nidrei, in synagogue on Yom Kippur eve. The older version, common among Sephardim, annuls the vows of the prior year, and the Ashkenazic version annuls the vows of the upcoming year. This video features Chazan (cantor) Yechiel Nahari demonstrating the Sephardic Kal Nidre in the Syrian style outside of a synagogue service. Compare Nahari’s rendition to a short excerpt of Syrian Muslim prayer recitation. (Kal Nidre is known as Kol Nidrei in Ashkenazi communities, based on different linguistic traditions.)
Comparinge Chazan Nahari’s Kal Nidre rendition to the short excerpt of Syrian Muslim prayer, what similarities and differences do you notice? Are there similar intervals and embellishments?
Creator Bio
Yechiel Nahari
Yechiel Nahari was born in Jerusalem to a Yemenite father and a mother of Yemenite and Syrian descent. From a young age, he participated in the traditional Yemenite singing practice before the Sabbath service. His father supported his musical talent, and at eight, Nahari was making recordings of Torah readings that were broadcast weekly on the radio. At the age of thirteen, he was brought to Brooklyn to perform in cantorial concerts. From then until he was sixteen Nahari performed in the Great Sephardic synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City, and for the next two years was cantor at a Syrian congregation in Deal, NJ. At eighteen, he moved back to Israel to complete his military service. Since then Nahari has served as cantor for several Sephardic and Syrian congregations, including the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in London. He records and performs internationally.