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: Y5671/58
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: YCD2981/1      This is one of the numerous version depicting the return of the husband, a well known pan-European theme, where the faithful wife awaits her husband, and when...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement:Y3979 This is a lyrical cantiga of disconnected stanzas, with Turkish words included in the text. The second stanza alludes to military service, since he has weapons (a revolver instead of...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 2261/4 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...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc2774/3,9 Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Oriente, pg. 98, Editorial Alpuerto, 2010 Susana Weich-Shahak. The medieval story of the long gone husband who returns and, without making himself...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5773/5 From Cantares y Romances Tradicionales Sefardies de Marruecos, 1991 In this rare Bar mitsvah song,  the son asks his parents for a special room to study in. This version...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y4588/5 Referenced and notated in: Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle, pg.35,  The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989 Susana Weich-Shahak. This is a copla for the Bar mitsva ceremony....
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement:Y3966/12 Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marreucos, pg. 50, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. This North Moroccan wedding song refers to the bride’s ritual bath before...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y6184a/8 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 154, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. A game very popular among Saloniki Sephardim. One child hides his face while...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc1097/32
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y03979 This is part of the havdala song: Al Dio alto.
Song for Havdala asking for health and joy, life for children as well the performing the rituals of naming of the girl, circumcision  of the boy and the laying of the tefilim (allusive to the...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 1215/16 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 179, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. A lyric song with a refrain of nonsense syllables. The groom addresses the...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement:Y5996a/33 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 195, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. A debate between the two mothers in law, the groom's mother is criticizing the...