The Torah consists of the first five books of the Jewish scriptures. It consists of the The Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. (; , "Instruction"). It is known in Christianity as the Pentateuch ( from ''penta-'' [five] and ''teuchos'' [tool, vessel, book]), is the Five Books of Moses — the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "''Sefer Torah''" (, "book of Torah") or ''Torah'' scroll is a copy of the ''Torah'' written on parchment in a formal, traditional manner by a specially trained scribe under strict requirements.

The ''Torah'' (Hebrew Bible), the first of three parts of the Tanakh, the founding religious document of Judaism, is divided into five books, whose names in Hebrew are one of the first few words in the initial verses of the book, while in English they allude to the theme most prominent in the book: ''Bereshit'', בראשית (Ancient Greek Genesis), ''Shmot'' שמות (Koine Greek Exodus), ''Vayikra'' ויקרא (Greek Leviticus), ''Bamidbar'' במדבר (English Numbers), and ''Dvarim'' דברים (Latin Deuteronomy). The ''Torah'' contains a variety of literary genres, including allegory, historical narrative, poetry, genealogy, and the exposition of various types of law. According to rabbinic tradition, the ''Torah'' contains the 613 ''mitzvot'' (מצוות, "commandments"), which are divided into 365 restrictions and 248 positive commands. In rabbinic literature, the word ''"Torah"'' denotes both the written text, "''Torah Shebichtav''" (תורה שבכתב, "Torah that is written"), as well as an oral tradition, "''Torah Shebe'al Peh''" (תורה שבעל פה, "Torah that is oral"). The oral portion consists of the "traditional interpretations and amplifications handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation," now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash.

According to Jewish tradition the Torah was revealed to Moses, in 1312 BCE at Mount Sinai; (another date given for this event is 1233 BCE). The Zohar, the most significant text in Jewish mysticism, states that the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, and that it was used as the blueprint for Creation. Modern biblical scholars believe its books were completed centuries later in the Persian period: According to Blenkinsopp, "Here and there in the Pentateuch Moses is said to have written certain things ... but nowhere is it affirmed that the Pentateuch was authored by Moses ... One would therefore think that what calls for an explanation is not why most people stopped believing in the dogma of Mosaic authorship, but rather why anyone believed it in the first place."

Outside of its central significance in Judaism, the ''Torah'' is accepted by Christianity as part of the Bible, comprising the first five books of the Old Testament. The various denominations of Judaism and Christianity hold a diverse spectrum of views regarding the exactitude of scripture. The ''Torah'' has also been accepted to varying degrees by the Samaritans, an ethnoreligious group of the Levant, and others as the authentic revealed message of YHWH to the early Israelites and as factual history, in both cases as conveyed by Moses. It is also accepted in the religion of Islam as a Holy Book, although it is believed by Muslims to have been modified or corrupted after the death of Moses. Muslims often place the bulk of this claimed corruption of the original text at or during the reconstruction of the Tanakh performed by Ezra the Priest and Scribe circa 400 BC, as the Tanakh itself claims that it had been lost to the Jews, and its law was not followed for many generations (cf. I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, Book of Ezekiel, etc.). Most Torah scholars view this as a revisionist reading of Ezrah and speculation, invented very recently, in relation to the life of the book, and Ezrah was poetically preaching in the fire and brimstone methods created by the Jews, utilized by all the prophets prior. It is common for a fire and brimstone prophet to make statements such as "you do not have the Torah with you any longer" Moses himself threatens to take the Torah away from the people many times if they do not follow its ordinances.

Meaning and names

The word "Torah" in Hebrew "is derived from the root ירה which in the ''hifil'' conjugation means "to teach" (cf. Lev. 10:11). The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching," "doctrine," or "instruction"; the commonly accepted "law" gives a wrong impression." Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, or system. The term "Torah" is therefore also used in the general sense to include both Judaism's written law and oral law, serving to encompass the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history, including the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Midrash and more, and the inaccurate rendering of "Torah" as "Law" may be an obstacle to "understanding the ideal that is summed up in the term ''talmud torah'' (תלמוד תורה, "study of Torah,"), characterized in Jewish tradition as excelling all things."

Christians often refer to the Torah as the Pentateuch, meaning five books, or as the Law, or Law of Moses. Muslims refers to the ''Torah'' as "''Tawrat''" (, "Law"), an Arabic word for the revelations given to the Islamic prophet "''Musa''" (, Moses in Arabic).

Composition

The first division of the Hebrew bible is the Torah ("instruction" or "law"), frequently called the Pentateuch ("five scrolls"), its Greek name, by modern scholars. It is the group of five books made up of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and stands first in all versions of the Christian Old Testament.

According to Jewish tradition the Torah was dictated to Moses by God, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy which describe his death. Today, the majority of scholars agree that the Pentateuch does not have a single author, and that its composition took place over centuries. From the late 19th century there was a general consensus around the documentary hypothesis, which suggests that the five books were created c.450 BCE by combining four originally independent sources, known as the Jahwist, or J (about 900 BCE), the Elohist, or E (about 800 BCE), the Deuteronomist, or D, (about 600 BCE), and the Priestly source, or P (about 500 BCE). This general agreement began to break down in the late 1970s, and today there are many theories but no consensus, or even majority viewpoint. Variations of the documentary hypothesis remain popular especially in America and Israel, and the identification of distinctive Deuteronomistic and Priestly theologies and vocabularies remains widespread, but they are used to form new approaches suggesting that the books were combined gradually over time by the slow accumulation of "fragments" of text, or that a basic text was "supplemented" by later authors/editors. At the same time there has been a tendency to bring the origins of the Pentateuch further forward in time, and the most recent proposals place it in 5th century Judah under the Persian empire.

Deuteronomy is often treated separately from Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus. The process of its formation probably took several hundred years, from the 8th century to the 6th, and its authors have been variously identified as prophetic circles (because the concerns of Deuteronomy mirror those of the prophets, especially Hosea), Levitical priestly circles (because it stresses the role of the Levites), and wisdom and scribal circles (because it esteems wisdom, and because the treaty-form in which it is written would be best known to scribes). According to the theory of the Deuteronomistic history proposed by Martin Noth and widely accepted, Deuteronomy was a product of the court of Josiah (late 7th century) before being used as the introduction to a comprehensive history of Israel written in the early part of the 6th century; later still it was detached from the history and used to round off the Pentateuch.

Structure

The Hebrew names of the five books of the Torah are known by their incipit, taken from initial words of the first verse of each book. For example, the Hebrew name of the first book, ''Bereshit'', is the first word of Genesis 1:1:

# ''Bereshit'' (, literally "In the beginning") # ''Shemot'' (, literally "Names") # ''Vayikra'' (, literally "He called") # ''Bamidbar'' (, literally "In the desert") # ''Devarim'' (, literally "Things" or "Words")

The Anglicized names are derived from the Greek and reflect the essential theme of each book:

# Genesis: "creation" # Exodus: "departure" # Leviticus: refers to the Levites and the regulations that apply to their presence and service in the Temple, which form the bulk of the third book. # Numbers (''Arithmoi''): contains a record of the numbering of the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai and later on the plain of Moab. # Deuteronomy: "second law," refers to the fifth book's recapitulation of the commandments reviewed by Moses before his death.

According to the Oral tradition, the prose in the Torah is not always in chronological order. Sometimes it is ordered by concept according to the rule: "There is not 'earlier' and 'later' in the Torah" (אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, ''Ein mukdam u'meuchar baTorah''). This position is accepted by Orthodox Judaism. Non-Orthodox Jews generally understand the same texts as signs that the current text of the Torah was redacted from earlier sources (see documentary hypothesis.) Scribal requirement has a section of parshah ''Behaalotecha'' in ''Bamidbar'' written with 85 letters which are demarkated from the text which precedes and follows it by inverted letters Nun which, due to halakhic requirements explained in Masekhet Shabbat 115b-116a of the Babylonian Talmud, creates a separate book in itself, thereby dividing the Torah into seven, and not five books as was, and is known in the use of the Christian translations.

Contents

Bereshit (Genesis) begins with the so-called "primeval history" (Genesis 1–11), the story of the world's beginnings and the descent of Abraham. This is followed by the story of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph (Genesis 12–50). God gives to the Patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt.

Shemot (Exodus) begins the story of God's revelation to his people Israel through Moses, who leads them out of Egypt (Exodus 1–18) to Mount Sinai. There the people accept a covenant with God, agreeing to be his people in return for agreeing to abide by his Law. Moses receives the Torah from God, and mediates His laws and Covenant (Exodus 19–24) to the people of Israel. Exodus also deals with the first violation of the covenant when Aaron took part in the construction of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32–34). Exodus concludes with the instructions on building the Tabernacle (Exodus 25–31; 35–40).

Vayikra (Leviticus) begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, which they had just built (Leviticus 1–10). This is followed by rules of clean and unclean (Leviticus 11–15), which includes the laws of slaughter and animals permissible to eat (see also: Kashrut), the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), and various moral and ritual laws sometimes called the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–26).

Bamidbar (Numbers) tells how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai (Numbers 1–9), set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan and spied out the land (Numbers 10–13). Because of unbelief at various points, but especially at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 14), the Israelites were condemned to wander for forty years in the desert in the vicinity of Kadesh instead of immediately entering the land of promise. Even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land (Numbers 20). At the end of Numbers (Numbers 26–35) Israel moves from Kadesh to the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, ready to enter the Promised Land.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) is a series of speeches by Moses on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho. Moses's proclaims the Law (Deuteronomy 12-26), gives instruction concerning covenant renewal at Shechem (Deuteronomy 27-28) and gives Israel new laws (the "Deuteronomic Code)". At the end of the book (Deuteronomy 34) Moses is allowed to see the promised land from a mountain, but it is not known what happened to Moses on the mountain. He was never seen again. Knowing that he is nearing the end of his life, Moses appoints Joshua his successor, bequeathing to him the mantle of leadership. Soon afterwards Israel begins the conquest of Canaan.

Torah and Judaism

The Torah is the primary holy scripture of Judaism.

Rabbinic writings offer various ideas on when the Torah was composed. The revelation to Moses at Mount Sinai is considered by most to be the revelatory event. According to dating of the text by Orthodox rabbis, this occurred in 1312 BCE; another date given for this event is 1280 BCE.

Some rabbinic sources state that the entire Torah was given all at once at this event. In the maximalist belief, this dictation included not only the quotations that appear in the text, but every word of the text itself, including phrases such as "And God spoke to Moses...", and included God telling Moses about Moses' own death and subsequent events. Other classical rabbinic sources hold that the Torah was revealed to Moses over many years, and finished only at his death.

Another rabbinic school of thought holds that although Moses wrote the vast majority of the Torah, the last four verses of the Torah must have been written after his death by Joshua. Abraham ibn Ezra and Joseph Bonfils observed that some phrases in the Torah present information that people should only have known after the time of Moses. Ibn Ezra hinted, and Bonfils explicitly stated, that Joshua (or perhaps some later prophet) wrote these sections of the Torah. Other rabbis would not accept this belief.

The Talmud (tractate Sabb. 115b) states that a peculiar section in the Book of Numbers (10:35 — 36, surrounded by inverted Hebrew letter nuns) in fact forms a separate book. On this verse a midrash on the book of ''Mishle'' (English Proverbs) states that "These two verses stem from an independent book which existed, but was suppressed!" Another (possibly earlier) midrash, Ta'ame Haserot Viyterot, states that this section actually comes from the book of prophecy of Eldad and Medad. The Talmud says that God dictated four books of the Torah, but that Moses wrote Deuteronomy in his own words (Talmud Bavli, Meg. 31b).

All classical rabbinic views hold that the Torah was entirely or almost entirely Mosaic and of divine origin.

Ritual use

160px|left|thumb|Torahs in Ashkenazi Synagogue (Istanbul, Turkey) Torah reading () is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is distinct from academic Torah study.

Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity (c. 537 BCE), as described in the Book of Nehemiah. In the modern era, adherents of Orthodox Judaism practice Torah reading according to a set procedure they believe has remained unchanged in the two thousand years since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). In the 19th and 20th centuries CE, new movements such as Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same:

As a part of the morning or afternoon prayer services on certain days of the week or holidays, a section of the Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. On Shabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section ("''parasha''") is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year. On Saturday afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Saturday's portion is read. On Jewish holidays and fast days, special sections connected to the day are read.

Jews observe an annual holiday, Simchat Torah, to celebrate the completion of the year's cycle of readings.

Torah scrolls are often dressed with a sash, various ornaments and a Keter (crown), although such customs vary among synagogues. Congregants traditionally stand when the Torah is brought out of the ark to be read (although they sit during the reading itself.)

Biblical law

The Torah contains narratives, statements of law, and statements of ethics. Collectively these laws, usually called biblical law or commandments, are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses (''Torat Moshe'' ), or Mosaic Law. Moses received the laws of God on Mount Sinai. These laws were the first part of the Torah.

The Torah and Judaism's oral law

Rabbinic tradition holds that the written Torah was transmitted in parallel with the oral tradition. Where the Torah leaves words and concepts undefined, and mentions procedures without explanation or instructions, the reader is required to seek out the missing details from supplemental sources known as the oral law or oral Torah. Some of the Torah's most prominent commandments needing further explanation are:

Tefillin: As indicated in Deuteronomy 6:8 among other places, tefillin are to be placed on the arm and on the head between the eyes. However, there are no details provided regarding what tefillin are or how they are to be constructed.

Kosher laws: As indicated in Exodus 23:19 among other places, a kid may not be boiled in its mother's milk. [A kid being a young goat.] In addition to numerous other problems with understanding the ambiguous nature of this law, there are no vowelization characters in the Torah; they are provided by the oral tradition. This is particularly relevant to this law, as the Hebrew word for ''milk'' (חלב) is identical to the word for ''animal fat'' when vowels are absent. Without the oral tradition, it is not known whether the violation is in mixing meat with milk or with fat.

Shabbat laws: With the severity of Sabbath violation, namely the death penalty, one would assume that direction would be provided as to how exactly such a serious and core commandment should be upheld. However, there is little to no information as to what can and cannot be performed on the Sabbath. Without the oral tradition, keeping this law would be impossible.

According to classical rabbinic texts this parallel set of material was originally transmitted to Moses at Sinai, and then from Moses to Israel. At that time it was forbidden to write and publish the oral law, as any writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and abuse.

However, after exile, dispersion and persecution, this tradition was lifted when it became apparent that in writing was the only way to ensure that the Oral Law could be preserved. After many years of effort by a great number of tannaim, the oral tradition was written down around 200 CE by Rabbi Judah haNasi who took up the compilation of a nominally written version of the Oral Law, the Mishnah. Other oral traditions from the same time period not entered into the Mishnah were recorded as "Baraitot" (external teaching), and the Tosefta. Other traditions were written down as Midrashim.

After continued persecution more of the oral law was committed to writing. A great many more lessons, lectures and traditions only alluded to in the few hundred pages of Mishnah, became the thousands of pages now called the ''Gemara''. Gemara is Aramaic, having been compiled in Babylon. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the Talmud. The Rabbis in Israel also collected their traditions and compiled them into the Jerusalem Talmud. Since the greater number of Rabbis lived in Babylon, the Babylonian Talmud has precedence should the two be in conflict.

Orthodox Jews and Conservative Jews accept these texts as the basis for all subsequent halakha and codes of Jewish law, which are held to be normative. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews deny that these texts may be used for determining normative law (laws accepted as binding) but accept them as the authentic and only Jewish version for understanding the Torah and its development throughout history.

Divine significance of letters, Jewish mysticism

Kabbalists hold that not only are the words giving a Divine message, but indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as a ''kotzo shel yod'' (קוצו של יוד), the serif of the Hebrew letter ''yod'' (י), the smallest letter, or decorative markings, or repeated words, were put there by God to teach scores of lessons. This is regardless of whether that yod appears in the phrase "I am the Lord thy God" (, Exodus 20:2) or whether it appears in "And God spoke unto Moses saying" ( Exodus 6:2). In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva (ca.50–ca.135CE), is said to have learned a new law from every ''et'' (את) in the Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the word ''et'' is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the direct object. In other words, the Orthodox belief is that even apparently contextual text "And God spoke unto Moses saying..." is no less important than the actual statement.

One kabbalistic interpretation is that the Torah constitutes one long name of God, and that it was broken up into words so that human minds can understand it. While this is effective since it accords with our human reason, it is not the only way that the text can be broken up.

Production and use of a Torah scroll

Manuscript Torah scrolls are still used, and still scribed, for ritual purposes (i.e., religious services); this is called a ''Sefer Torah'' ("Book [of] Torah"). They are written using a painstakingly careful methodology by highly qualified scribes. This has resulted in modern copies of the text that are unchanged from millennia-old copies. It is believed that every word, or marking, has divine meaning, and that not one part may be inadvertently changed lest it lead to error. The fidelity of the Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered paramount, down to the last letter: translations or transcriptions are frowned upon for formal service use, and transcribing is done with painstaking care. An error of a single letter, ornamentation, or symbol of the 304,805 stylized letters which make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a special skill is required and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check.

According to Jewish law, a ''sefer Torah'' (plural: ''Sifrei Torah'') is a copy of the formal Hebrew text of hand-written on ''gevil'' or ''qlaf'' (forms of parchment) by using a quill (or other permitted writing utensil) dipped in ink. Written entirely in Hebrew, a ''sefer Torah'' contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained ''sofer'' (“scribe”), an effort which may take as long as approximately one and a half years. Most modern Sifrei Torah are written with forty-two lines of text per column (Yemenite Jews use fifty), and very strict rules about the position and appearance of the Hebrew letters are observed. See for example the Mishna Berura on the subject. Any of several Hebrew scripts may be used, most of which are fairly ornate and exacting.

The completion of the sefer Torah is a cause for great celebration, and it is a Mitzvah for every Jew to either write or have written for him a Sefer Torah. Torah scrolls are stored in the holiest part of the synagogue in the Ark known as the "Holy Ark" ( ''aron hakodesh'' in Hebrew.) Aron in Hebrew means "cupboard" or "closet", and kodesh is derived from "kadosh", or "holy".

Torah in other religions

While Christianity includes the five books of Moses among their sacred texts, Islam only believes that the original Torah was sent by the One true God. In both religions they lack the religious legal significance that they have in Orthodox Judaism.

In early Christianity a Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible was used. Its name in Latin is the Septuagint: L. ''septem'' meaning seven, plus ''-gintā'' meaning "times ten". It was named ''Septuagint'' from the traditional number of its translators. Being the Pentateuch, it forms the beginning of the Old Testament that incorporate the Torah into the Catholic and Christian Orthodox Biblical canon that also includes some books not found in the Tanakh. This Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures dates from the 3rd century B.C. It contains both a translation of the Hebrew and additional and variant material. It was regarded as the standard form of the Old Testament in the early Christian Church and is still considered canonical in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Though different Christian denominations have slightly different versions of the Old Testament in their Bibles, the Torah as the "Five Books of Moses" (or "the Law") is common among them all.

The Quran refers heavily to Moses to outline the truth of his existence and the religious guidelines that God (Most Exalted) had revealed to the Children of Israel. God (Most Exalted) says in the Qur'an, "It is He Who has sent down the Book (the Qur'an) to you with truth, confirming what came before it. And He sent down the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)." [3:1]

Muslims call the Torah the ''Tawrat'' and consider it the word of God given to Moses. However, Muslims also believe that this original revelation was corrupted (''tahrif'') over time by Jewish scribes and hence do not revere the present Jewish version Torah as much. The Torah in the Qur'an is always mentioned with respect in Islam. The Muslims' belief in the Torah, as well as the prophethood of Moses, is one of the fundamental tenets of Islam.

See also

Ten Commandments

Christianity and Judaism

Forbidden relationships in Judaism

Heptateuch

Hexapla

Islamic view of Moses

Jewish Publication Society (JPS)

Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses

JPS Tanakh

Judeo-Christian tradition

List of burial places of biblical figures

Moses in rabbinic literature

Samaritan Pentateuch

Tawrat

Torah reading

Torah study

References

Additional Sources

Friedman, Richard Elliott, ''Who Wrote the Bible?'', HarperSanFrancisco, 1997

Welhausen, Julius, ''Prolegomena to the History of Israel'', Scholars Press, 1994 (reprint of 1885)

Kantor, Mattis, ''The Jewish time line encyclopedia: A yearby-year history from Creation to the present'', Jason Aronson Inc., London, 1992

Wheeler, Brannon M., ''Moses in the Quran and Islamic Exegesis'', Routledge, 2002

DeSilva, David Arthur, ''An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry'', InterVarsity Press, 2004

Alcalay, Reuben., ''The Complete Hebrew – English dictionary'', vol 2, Hemed Books, New York, 1996 ISBN 978-9654481793

Scherman, Nosson, (ed.), Tanakh, Vol.I, The Torah, (Stone edition), Mesorah Publications, Ltd., New York, 2001

Heschel, Abraham Joshua, Tucker, Gordon & Levin, Leonard, ''Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations'', London, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005

Hubbard, David “The Literary Sources of the Kebra Nagast” ''Ph.D. dissertation St Andrews University, Scotland, 1956''

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia: Torah

Three Complete Kosher Sefer Torah Scrolls for Study online (Congregation Beth Emeth of Northern Virginia)

Sefer Torah Scroll for Study online with Megillot and commentaries

Computer generated Sefer Torah for Study online with translation, transliteration and chanting (WorldORT)

Category:Hebrew words and phrases

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Dave Greenslade (born 18 January 1943) is a British keyboards player. He has played in his own eponymous band, Greenslade, and others including Colosseum, If and Chris Farlowe's Thunderbirds.

Greenslade was born in Woking, Surrey, England. Among his works are, ''Cactus Choir'', ''The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony'' (with art by Patrick Woodroffe) and ''Music from the Discworld''. Television work includes music for the BBC series ''Gangsters'' (1975–1978), ''Bird of Prey'' (1982–1984) and ''A Very Peculiar Practice'' (1986).

Dave Greenslade is still involved in Colosseum, who reunited in 1994 after the split in 1971.

Albums

''Greenslade'' (1972), with Dave Lawson (keyboards and vocal), Tony Reeves (Bass), and Andy McCullock (drums). Artwork Roger Dean

''Bedside Manners Are Extra'' (1973)

''Spyglass Guest'' (1974)

''Time & Tide'' (1975)

''Cactus Choir'' (1976)

''The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony'' (1979)

''From The Discworld'' (1994)

''Going South'' (1999)

References

The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B;, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson ISBN 1-899855-04-1

External links

Gibraltar Encyc. of Prog. Rock

Prog Archives bio

Gitlin site

Mystic Records page

Category:People from Woking Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:English keyboardists Category:English electronic musicians Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians

de:Dave Greenslade it:Dave Greenslade fi:Dave Greenslade

Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″N
Name	The Books
Background	group_or_band
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genre	Folktronica, experimental, sound collage
Formed	2000
Years active	2000–present
Label	Tomlab, Temporary Residence Limited
Website	www.thebooksmusic.com
Current members	Nick ZammutoPaul de Jong
Past members	}}

The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech. They have released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and recently released their fourth studio album, ''The Way Out'', on Temporary Residence Limited.

History

1999–2002: ''Thought for Food''

Zammuto and de Jong first met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building. De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor record. Zammuto said of their meeting that "we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music." Soon after, they began playing what they considered to be pop music, in comparison to their own works, under the name ''The Books''.

In 2000, The Books started work on what would become their début album ''Thought for Food''. Zammuto and de Jong moved locations constantly during this time, recording in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail.

''Thought for Food'' was released on October 22^nd, 2002. Praised by critics for its distinctive sound, it featured extensive sampling from obscure sources coupled with mostly acoustic instrumentation.

2002–2003: ''The Lemon of Pink''

Shortly after the release of ''Thought for Food'', the band relocated to North Adams, Massachusetts, near where Zammuto had graduated from Williams College in 1999, studying chemistry and visual arts. Zammuto and de Jong began the recording of ''The Lemon of Pink'' around this time. Anne Doerner, a guest vocalist on the album, said the process was much more arduous than the recording of ''Thought for Food'', with Zammuto working on the album for five straight months.

''The Lemon of Pink'' was released to critical acclaim on October 7^th, 2003. It is similar in style to ''Thought for Food'', but oriented more around vocals performed mostly by Anne Doerner.

2003–2006: ''Lost and Safe'', ''Music for a French Elevator'', ''Prefuse 73 Reads The Books''

In 2004, the French Ministry of Culture asked The Books to compose music for a new elevator in their building. The Books released a Mini CD of this work in 2006, under the name ''Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books''.

On April 5, 2005, The Books released their third studio album, ''Lost and Safe''. Zammuto has a greater vocal presence in this album, and the album was criticized for this change of sound. Aside from this, ''Lost and Safe'' was well received by critics. Throughout early 2005, The Books collobarated with the electronica artist Prefuse 73. The Books appear on his album Surrounded by Silence ("Pagina Dos"), and the E.P. ''Prefuse 73 Reads the Books E.P.'' collects remixes of material sourced from The Books' albums.

Before starting a three-month tour of North America in April 2006, The Books had played only one concert, in October 2003 at a festival in Chicago, Illinois. Zammuto has expressed apprehensiveness towards touring, but says it is necessary to make a living, given the financial strain he's put under due to people downloading The Books' music via file-sharing.

2006–present: Break, ''The Way Out''

Following the release of ''Music for a French Elevator'', the band took a break from recording to tend to their new families, tour in support of their albums, and pursue some of their own projects, which included Zammuto scoring a feature documentary about the Biosphere 2.

In 2007, The Books released ''Play All'', a DVD of thirteen music videos and three previously unreleased tracks. The ''Play All'' videos are composed of found footage transformed into a collage that matches their music. The Books often screen these videos during their live performances.

The Books toured heavily between 2005 and 2007, including two tours in Europe and two Canadian shows. In early 2009 The Books covered the Nick Drake song "Cello Song" in collaboration with José González for the Red Hot Organization's ''Dark Was the Night'' fund-raising album.

The Books began working on ''The Way Out'' in late 2008. Zammuto spoke of the album's New Age themes in an interview in April 2009, saying they took samples from self-help and hypnotherapy cassettes. When asked to describe the album, Zammuto said "You're getting verrry sleepy." On April 5, 2010, the duo announced that ''The Way Out'' would be released through Temporary Residence Limited in July. On April 27 Pitchfork Media began streaming the track "Beautiful People", which Zammuto described as "a three part christian harmony mixed with a sort of euro-disco-trash beat, an orchestra’s worth of sampled brass and lyrics about the twelfth root of two (my favorite irrational number), trigonometry and tangrams". The album was released on July 20.

The Books played the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York, in September 2010 and are currently touring North American tour with the Black Heart Procession. The band have been chosen by Portishead & ATP to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they will curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.

Musical style

The Books are commonly cited by critics to be of a genre of their own,. Zammuto has described it as as collage music. Although they have said that their influences include Nirvana, David Bowie, Roxy Music as well as new wave and classical music, these do not show prominently in their music, though Zammuto was directly influenced by electronic musicians Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. The Books' music usually consists of acoustic instrumentation of folk melodies usually played on guitar, cello, banjo and more, combined with a diverse range of samples obtained from cassettes found in thrift stores, which are digitally processed and edited. They also rarely use a drum kit in recordings and performances, instead favouring inanimate objects like children's toys and filing cabinets, which are sampled and looped. Some observers contend that their music is aleatoric, but Zammuto has disagreed, saying the music is very tightly controlled.

Discography

Studio albums

''Thought for Food'' (2002)

''The Lemon of Pink'' (2003)

''Lost and Safe'' (2005)

''Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by the Books'' (EP, 2006)

''The Way Out'' (2010)

DVDs

''Play All'' (2007)

References

External links

Interview with The Books

Category:Musical groups from Massachusetts Category:Folktronica Category:American people of Dutch descent

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