292 r Efrat E. Aviv
composers in the mid-nineteenth century. Composers Chaim Alzarki
(who died in 1913) and Eliya Levy, known as Santuri Eliya (Eliya the San-
turi player), were both active at the turn of the century.^27
Issac Algazi (1889–1950) was also born in Izmir and studied cantorial
and Turkish music in the early twentieth century. Between 1923 and 1933
he served as the cantor in the Italian synagogue in Istanbul. His principal
teachers were his father, Shlomo Algazi, and the Jewish composer Shem
Tov Shikiar (1840–1920), who earned the title Hoca Santo (the saintly
teacher).^28 Shikiar received lessons in the art of singing from the city’s
greatest singers, known as paytanim. He travelled to Istanbul when he
turned twenty and spent a few years learning from the greatest Hafızlar
(religious people who learn the Quran by heart and are learned in reli-
gious Islamic songs). Shikiar was also popular with Sultan Abdülhamit II
(1876–1909), who was fond of music and occasionally invited Shikiar to
his palace. Local Muslim singers used to envy Shikiar, and they expressed
it by giving him a hard time. Algazi was a violinist and composer who
taught in a school of the arts in Izmir and was so beloved by the sultan that
his work Hanoten Teshua Lamelakhim (Prayers for the King and Country)
was adopted by the palace as the official closing musical piece at state
receptions.^29 Algazi was close to the president of the Turkish Republic,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who hired him as a consultant to the National
Institute of Turkish Folklore and even invited him to sing at Dolmabahçe
Palace. Algazi derived his skill in artistic Turkish music from Shikiar.^30
Shikiar also conducted Turkish music lessons in the “Shalom” and “Portu-
gal” synagogues.^31 These lessons were advertised in the local newspapers.
For example:
As previously announced, the Fasil in Mahor has been taught since
the third of Tevet in Kahal Kadosh Portugal by the teachers (Shem
Tov) Shikiar, (Haim) Alzarki, (Shlomo) Algazi.... We are pleased
to learn that the audience attends the Kahal Kadosh for the rehears-
als which are conducted with order and harmony. One can also
hear the Fasil... by the Maestro Shikiar.... The audience is most
enthusiastic.^32This notice proves how developed the musical activity of the Jews of
Izmir was in those years and how knowledgeable Jewish musicians were
in Turkish music. The fact that rehearsals were held in synagogues dem-
onstrates that music was important.