Songs

Home /  

Songs

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.

Filters

Filters
Song
Academic title
Congregation
Genre
Life Cycle
Yearly Cycle
Lyric/love Songs
Informant / Performers
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y4550/8 Referenced and notated in: Moroccan Sephardic Romancero, pg. 118, Gaon Books, House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. The story of Don Bueso y su hermana develops a theme that appears in...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: YCD2799b/2  Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 158, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak.
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd 2, 2009 The daughter's pleas for a husband in a dialogue with her parents.
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd 2, 2009
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, 2009 This is a version of La doncella guerrera, The warrior maiden, which is widely spread across Spain and within the...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5434/4 Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Oriente, pg. 157, Editorial Alpuerto, 2010 Susana Weich-Shahak. This is a version of La doncella guerrera, The warrior maiden, which is widely...
From Morenika Izmirlia - Judeo-Spanish songs from Smyrna, 2020 This is a version of La doncella guerrera, The warrior maiden, which is widely spread across Spain and within the Sephardic diaspora. In all versions, a...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 2325/15  Referenced and notated in: Moroccan Sephardic Romancero, pg. 243, Gaon Books, House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. In this romance a count is ordered punished, not for crimes like theft...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc2486/1 Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marruecos pg. 241, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. This somewhat strange and rare romance borrows themes from other romances....
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: NSA Y6006/3
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd 2, 2009 This cantiga expresses the longing of a lover left behind while her beloved emigrates overseas, likely to Buenos...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 1332/21 Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Oriente, pg. 63, Editorial Alpuerto, 2010 Susana Weich-Shahak. The ballad recounts the mysterious murder of Giovanni (Juan) Borgia, Duke of Gandia,...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5539/2 Referenced and notated in: Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle, pg. 36, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989 Susana Weich-Shahak. This song was sung at the swing, where...
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd1,  2009 This romance exists only in Sephardic tradition. It presents an impossible list of architectural demands that make the poor...