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Sephardic songs accompanied life from beginning to end—love and courtship, pregnancy, childbirth, weddings, and mourning. They also marked the yearly cycle with songs rooted in Jewish traditions and historical events.
Ladino, originating from 15th-century  Spanish, was the language of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. As they dispersed across the Mediterranean, Ladino song absorbed local linguistic and musical influences.
There are two main dialects:
Ladino (Español) – Spoken in Turkey, Greece, Sarajevo, Bulgaria, Rhodes, and beyond.
Haketia – The dialect of northern Morocco.

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Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5832/a Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marruecos, pg. 85, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. The ballad of Juan Lorenzo refers to an episode in Portuguese...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc0931/22 This copla for Shavuot and Simchat Tora, the holiday for the receiving of the Torah,  begins with a verse in Hebrew, the first line of which, Hi Torá lanu...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: YCD2979/1 This well-known song is based on a translation of a Turkish original that tells the story of a demanding bride who rejects a series of suitors, each for a...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc2772/8 Referenced and notated in: Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle, pg. 67, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989 Susana Weich-Shahak. A song of farewell to the wedding guests....
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y2931/1 A song of longing for Jerusalem, used to be sung on the night of the "mortaja", when people gathered in a feast to prepare the shrouds for the old...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc1039/7 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 296, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. This song of mourning is known as: Romansa la choza del deseperado -...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y4552/16 Referenced and notated in: La Boda Sefardi, Musica, texto y contexto, pg. 113, Editorial Alpuerto, 2007 Susana Weich-Shahak. After the wedding the mother of the bride asks to be...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y 5982a/44 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 118, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. This copla, connected to the circumcision ritual, recounts a Talmudic legend about...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5823b/33 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 119, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. This copla, linked to the circumcision ritual, retells a Talmudic legend about Abraham’s...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y2091/4 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 120, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. This copla, associated with the ritual of circumcision, tells the story of Abraham's...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y2261 Referenced and notated in: Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle, pg. 48, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989 Susana Weich-Shahak. Often North Moroccan wedding songs are sung consecutively...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y2185 Referenced and notated in: Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle, pg. 51, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989 Susana Weich-Shahak.
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y6130/18 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 172, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. A song for the bride's ritual bath, typically filled with images of sensuality...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5740b/12 Based on the liturgical poem composed in the 12th century by Rabbi Judah Ibn Abbas of Fez, is chanted on Rosh Hashanah and in some communities also on Yom...