On October 5, 1968, Mr. Abraham Pinto, a businessman from New York City originally from Tangier, Morocco, offered the Library of Congress a collection of tapes containing approximately thirty hours of Jewish liturgical music recordings, which he had undertaken on his own initiative. These invaluable recordings later became part of the Library’s American Folklife Center collections.

This lecture, presented by renowned musicologist Dr. Edwin Seroussi, will provide an overview of Mr. Pinto’s interaction with the Library’s Moroccan sound collections. Listeners will then be introduced to the sounds of Jewish Morocco, as preserved by Mr. Pinto more than half a century ago through a performance by the NY Andalus Ensemble in the Great Hall.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the Lilly Endowment, Inc.