The Power of Eskenazi’s Music to Evoke Emotion
Moving forward, we can explore evidence that strengthens the idea that Eskenazi’s’ music was not just about her lyrics but, more importantly, the feelings and memories it evoked. With that, we can then determine what gave her voice this power. Our first notion that her voice holds an unusual power to induce emotion was in the opening narration of the film. The narrator describes, “I first heard a scratchy old recording of [Eskenazi] in a small Jerusalem pub. Her voice evoked such a passion that even if I didn’t understand a word, I was swept away to distant cities and lands.” We see here that Eskenazi’s voice had a particular ability and that, at times, the motifs that her singing represented were
…show more content…
Perhaps it was the fact that she was so well-traveled. Over the course of her life, she lived in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and the US among other places. Rebetiko singer Konstandina Kamenidi states in the film, “Roza could not have been any other person. She was born and raised in Istanbul, then she went to Salonika and lived in Greece. How could she have been anything else? That’s the way Roza was. She took things from so many different cultures…” Kamenidi claims that it was Eskenazi’s exposure to so many different cultures that made her unlike any other singer and even unlike any other person. This sentiment is further validated through a statement from Eskenazi herself near the conclusion of the film: “I am happy with my life. Wherever I went, I did well. Everyone appreciated me. […] I also appreciate my own people, the artists working today. I appreciate them, and I love to watch them. When I saw you just now, I was happy to see you, my dear Haroula.” This appreciation that Eskenazi holds for those around her would enable her to fully embrace the various cultures she was exposed to and incorporate their values and styles into her music as a way of paying