NAIM TWEINA

The sudden death of Naim Tweina, on Friday 4 April 1999 left his friends in a state of shock.
Naim was a "family member" at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center since the day of
its founding. He would come here almost every week, not only to participate in events
and conferences but out of interest in everything taking place at the Center, especially
in the area of the musical heritage of the Jews of Iraq. He was appointed Musical
Adviser to the Center, and helped greatly in its musical programs.
From his youth he took a great interest in the research of music and the
maqam, and his expertise in it was great. He managed to build up a large collection of
rare musical recordings of cantors and Jewish musicians. They included 22 albums
made in 1929 by "Abu Shevahot", that is, Haguli Shmuel Darzi, together with the
cantors Binyamin Aslan and the late Shlomo Reuben Mualim. There were also
cassettes of the cantors Menashe Somekh (known in Baghdad as Usta Mnashi
al-Najar), Mualim Sion, and the late Salim Daoud, as well as cassettes of songs in
Arabic by Salima Pasha, Nadhim Alghazali, Lulu Shamma, and Masuda al-Bumbliya.
From the very earliest phases of activity by the Center, Naim Tweina was
called in, and prepared a program for Ms. Ruth Atar who made a studio recording of
the late cantor Shlomo Reuven Mualim rendering the piyyutim of the Jews of
Babylonia.
Naim attended all the many musical interviews I conducted with the late
musician Salih Alkuwaiti and with the late Salim Shabbat, the maqam singer, and his
comments were important on this subject. He participated in all the conferences of
informants on "The Heritage of Babylonian Jewry" that we held on behalf of the
Center, and he remained there entire days at interviews, recordings, and filming. He
also published a series of articles in the journal al-Anbaa', issued in Israel, on Jewish
musicians from Iraq.
Together with him, in 1983 I published recordings of Shevahot Songs of the
Jews of Iraq performed by the late cantor Shlomo Reuven Mualim and the cantor
David Habba, accompanied by a Voice of Israel ensemble conducted by Zuzu Musa.
In the preface to my book Women's Songs I wrote about the help given by
Tweina: "To my friend Naim Tweina, who is well versed in the folksongs of the Jews
of Iraq. He labored with me long hours in clarifying the songs, together with Salih
Alkuwaiti, and provided me with everything he could to advance the research of the
subject of folksongs, and research of the subject of the heritage of Babylonian Jewry;
all without any desire for reward".
Naim (Hebrew for "pleasant") was as his name: pleasant in his ways and
welcoming to every person. He did not have the joy of establishing a family of his own,
but all the Jews of Iraq were his family, especially the family of the Center. In Iraq he
did much for the benefit of Israel, and remained there until his emigration to Israel in
1974. His service has been recognized by the Ministry of Defense.
May his memory be blessed.