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There are many similar but slightly differing melodies used by Ashkenazim and by Sephardim from Spanish & Portuguese traditions. Morrocan, Tunisian, Italian, London, Amsterdam and New York.

The Yemenites however have a quite different tune.

In England, Sephardi claims of the antiquity of the tune published by Rev David Aron De Sola in his book “The ancient melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews” in the 1850s where he writes that he read in "an old Spanish book" that this was believed to be the very same tune as Miriam sung at the Reed Sea. De Sola doubts that, but he thinks the tune dates to before the settlement of the Jews in Spain- making it pretty old.

This seems claim to antiquity and authenticity impressed Rev Francis Lyon Cohen (an English Ashkenazi Rabbi and musicologist) who thought the tune might go back to 2nd Temple times and seems to have led to the Spanish and Portuguese version of the melody being included by Rev Cohen in the Handbook of Synagogue Music (1889, revised 1899) published under the auspices of the United Synagogue and the Chief Rabbi. This was extremely popular and influantial and as a result the Spanish and Portuguese tune became widely adopted by English Ashkenazim for the reading of the Shira from the Torah (but not in the P'sukei d'zimra).

However, the related melodic chant used for the Shira by Ashkenazim in Europe pre-dates that development.

Idelson (I think) mentions a theory that it was brought from the Sephardi tradition to the Ashkenasi one by early leaders of Ashkenaz who were themselves Sephardi.

Given that the same tune is used by multiple groups of Sephardim and by Ashkenazim it is probably the most ancient melody we have in use in the Jewish community. Quite apart from the claim of a tradition that it was ancient found in "an old book" read by Rev de Sola in 1850.

It could possibly even go back to Temple times. Was it the tune sung by Miriam at the Reed Sea? Who knows…

London-born Spanish and Portuguese community Chazzan, Daniel Halfon, summarises nicely what is known (and not known) of the history of the melody here and also shares a recording of 4 Sephardi versions:

“In honour of Shabbat Shira here is a recording I made four years ago https://youtu.be/wDqFEIIDelc

The Shirat Hayam - Az Yashir Moshe - is perhaps the earliest recorded communally performed song in the Jewish tradition. D.A. de Sola cites an unnamed medieval source that identifies the melody, then known in Spain, as the very one sung by Miriam and her companions following the crossing of the Red Sea. While acknowledging that this claim may fall shy of the standards of conclusive proof, de Sola suggests the statement, itself, is indicative of the melody's long-lost origins and, therefore, of its likely pre-Iberian provenance.

Another pointer in the direction of the melody's antiquity cited by musicologists, is the similarity that exists between Eastern, Western and North African Sephardi chants, as well as those of the Eastern and Western Ashkenazi traditions.

In this video, the London, Amsterdam, Livorno and New York variants of the Western Sephardi melody are represented. (Warning: The London and New York versions are so close, that I myself had difficulty distinguishing them when listening to the recording.)

Please like and share.

For an mp3 of this recording please visit my website, where there are over 70 selections available for downloading.

http://danielhalfon.com/multitrack-recordings/ “