Cohen Melamed, Nissan

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COHEN MELAMED, NISSAN

COHEN MELAMED, NISSAN (1906–1983), authority on music and liturgical melody of Oriental Jews. Born in Shiraz, Persia, he came to Ereẓ Israel with his parents at the age of two, and as a child, became an expert in the cantillation of Oriental Jews. He studied music at the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music and did research on cantillation under Prof. Solomon *Rosowsky. In 1927 he was appointed by Chief Rabbi *Ouziel as cantor of the Sephardi Great Synagogue "Ohel Moed" in Tel Aviv and director of the Pirḥei Kehunah College for Sephardi ḥazzanut. From 1956 to 1962 he served as ḥazzan and school principal in Mexico City and as head of the Koresh Jewish School in Teheran. On his return to Israel he joined the faculty of Jewish Music of Bar-Ilan University. In 1980 the Israel Academy of Music in Tel Aviv released a recording of cantorial liturgies, cantillation of the Torah, haftarot, and the five megillot, sung by Nissan Cohen Melamed as arranged by Yehezkel Braun.

[Akiva Zimmerman (2nd ed.)]