Re: chock-a-blockful of Jewish data (wasRe: point to consider MelGibson's _Passion_

In a message dated 2004:02:19 03:25:01 PM, my microtonal music
colleague/friend John Chalmers writes & corrects a few things I had wrong:

>Interestingly, more and more USanians are discovering that they are >partly
Jewish when they do genealogy and DNA sequence studies. Not >surprising--about
20% of the later Roman empire was Jewish, though >probably mostly converts.
>
>I imagine there was a lot of intermarriage between converts to Judaism >and
Diaspora Jews, then when many converts and "god fearers" became >Christians,
the genes spread to the pagans.
>
>I used to know and Indian (East) journalist who was Jewish-- he said the
>community went back to Roman times at least.(it's mentioned in the
>Christian apocryphal literature).
>
>I don't think Yasser had any Egyptian connection. He was a Russian jew
>who escaped through China, supported himself by playing piano in the
>whorehouses of Shanghai, then emigrated to NYC where he lived until his >death. He
was an organist, scholar, etc. When I lived in New Jersey in the >early-mid
70's working for Merck, I once on a lark got out the Manhattan >phone book and
looked up his name. It was there so I called him and he >invited me over for
tea. He was about 90 at the time, but very sharp still. >However, he didn't want
to argue theory.
>
>Somewhere I have his autograph and a bibliographic pamphlet his >students
put out. Very nice gentleman.
>
>Contrary to what some people have claimed, he actually did have 19-et >tuned
up on two pianos once and he knew what his scale and theories >sounded like.




---
Hanuman Zhang, _Gomi no seito/sensei_ [HighSchool-level Student/Master of
junk]

    "To live is to scrounge, taking what you can in order to survive. So,
since living is scrounging, the result of our efforts is to amass a pile of
rubbish."  - Chuang Tzu/Zhuangzi, China, 4th Century BCE

"The most beautiful order is a heap of sweepings piled up at random." -
Heraclitus, Greece, 5th Century BCE

    "...So what is life for? Life is for beauty and substance and sound and
colour; and even those are often forbidden by law [socio-cultural conventions].
. .Why not be free and live your own life? Why follow other people's rules
and live to please others?..." ~Lieh-Tzu/Liezi, Taoist Sage (c. 450- 375 BCE)

    "Taoism in a nutshell: Shit Happens. Roll with the Punches. Hang 10 - Go
with the Flow!" - anon. California surferBeatnik, c.1950's/1960's

    Voices of the Past:
http://advancement.uark.edu/pubs/Research_Frontiers/fall_2001/05_Feature1.html


    At its peak, the Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE) of China a mixture of cultural
influences were reflected in the music of the times.People traveled from
other countries, including Japan, Mongolia, India, Korea & Turkey, to learn about
the Tang culture.But the multi-racial, multi-cultural era waned at the end of
the Tang.China,one of the greatest cultural & military powers in history,
began to close in on itself, the rulers closed the country's borders - fearing the
destruction of their civilization.The rich, diverse music of the Tang, along
with that of the surrounding cultures, was lost or destroyed. Bits have been
found & the rest is theory & re-construction...

    "The whole world of musics and instruments lives around us....I am
interested in a 'transethnic,' a planetary music."  - Lou Harrison ("...Europe is a
region he called Northwest Asia...")

    The power of education & culture to transcend social and political
differences is still largely untapped...

    Proud to be a Race Trader! Race & Culture Mixin' is the Future!