The project focuses on archiving various types of oral literature created in Judeo-Spanish by Sephardic Jews. The creators hope to make a searchable database of such literature, including digital audio recordings and annotations (Folk Literature). According to a site giving information on the project, the “repertoire of ballads, lyric songs, proverbs, and other materials represents a centuries-old cultural legacy of inestimable value, providing an unbroken link with the world of medieval epic.” The digital archive “will allow future generations to appreciate and to study this cultural legacy” (Armistead 3-4). This document also states that “researchers need to be able to access the audio archive and retrieve, through search-and-query operations, complex philological, ethnological, musical, and literary information. Also, researchers need to be able not only to access the archive, but to add to its store of data as new studies are published or related archives are placed online.” The archive is geared not only to such researchers, however, but also toward the general public, who “should be able to become acquainted with a cultural and historical treasure—oral traditions of poetry and music preserved for nearly eight centuries—whose living witnesses are quickly disappearing” (Armistead 8). The ballads and other oral literary works will be available to anyone who cares to see (and hear) them.
Even before the website was created, a series of books known as Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews was being written by Professor Samuel G. Armistead, who studies medieval Spanish literature at the University of California at Davis. According to Pedro Ponce, “[d]ecades of tape recordings have provided the raw material for Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews, a study of Judeo-Spanish ballads, lyric poetry, riddles, and folktales.” The main person behind the archive is Professor Armistead himself. The UCDavis News states that Armistead “has already published three volumes, has now completed the preparation of volumes four through seven, and is at work on volume eight. His studies involve traveling both within the United States and in other countries, including Morocco, Spain and Israel, to interview those people who retained the oral traditions of ballads, lyric poetry, proverbs and even riddles, passed down from their Sephardic Jewish ancestors who were expelled from Spain in 1492.” Letters & Science says that he “has uncovered and preserved an entire literary tradition that, because it was an oral one, would otherwise have been lost forever” (Letters 3). Armistead’s co-director, Bruce Rosenstock, who is also the webmaster and project manager for the database, is a lecturer in religious studies and classics at Davis. The ballads are sung and recited by Rahel Serruya and Luna Elaluf Farache of Morocco, and Sarah Nehama of Greece (Armistead 6-7).
Currently, the website provides links to two papers about oral literature, and a means of searching the database. For each song or other work, the words are written out, and data on the file, informants, and editors are provided. There are also RealAudio files for the ballads. While the database can already serve as a useful tool for researchers, it really needs work before it can be considered complete. For instance, an index to the works (rather than just a search engine) would be a useful addition, and translations of the lyrics would assist in the goal of making these works known to the general public. At present, the majority of the site is in English, but the words to the literary works are only available in Judeo-Spanish. Some of the data on the particular works are also missing. For instance, a few of the ballads had unidentified titles and incomplete informant data. With time and work, however, these problems can be rectified. While it is far from perfect now, the website could certainly become a useful tool for researchers, both professional and casual, into Sephardic Jewish culture.
Does the site qualify as a digital library? At present, it qualifies only very loosely, if at all. It seems to be simply a database, and not a library. It is not particularly user-friendly, and ease of use is important to a library. There is really no coherent organizational structure to the resources located at the site. The database can be searched, but only by keyword, which sets considerably limitations. There does not seem to be any staff available at the site, and the documents do not include much background information. Since the site is sponsored by the Digital Libraries Initiative, it is presumably intended to be a digital library, and, with some work, it could become one. Presently, though, it is essentially just a text archive.
Armistead, Samuel, and Bruce Rosenstock. A Multi-media Digital Library of Folk Literature: Tradition and Technology. Available: http://www.dli2.nsf.gov/cornellworkshop/armistead_ucd.pdf (accessed 12 April 2001).
Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews: A Multi-tiered Extensible Digital Archive. Available: http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/seminar/2000/20000501.html (accessed 12 April 2001).
Letters and Science (Fall 1998) 3:1. Available: http://www-lsdo.ucdavis.edu/Development/newsletters/Fall98.pdf (accessed 12 April 2001).
Ponce, Pedro (March/April 2000). “Songs of the Sephardim.” Humanities. Available: http://www.neh.fed.us/publications/humanities/2000-03/sephardim.html (accessed 12 April 2001).
Rosenstock, Bruce. Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews. Available: http://flsj.ucdavis.edu/home/ (accessed 12 April 2001).
UCDavis News (25 February 1999). Available: http://www-pubcomm.ucdavis.edu/newsreleases/02.99/news_Armistead.html (accessed 12 April 2001).