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
From Arboleras vol. 3, Sephardic songs from the 20th century, 2000 Another traditional Sephardic song from the world of sewing and tailoring, about the making and sewing of buttons, one of the typical women's trades...
Composed during the Balkan War of 1912-1913. The theme develops around the pain a wife that looses her husband, or possibly a mother who looses her son, his name Yehuda  sung in Hebrew.
From Ventanas Altas de Saloniki, 2013. Composed during the Balkan War of 1912-1913. The theme develops around the pain a wife that looses her husband, or possibly a mother who looses her son, his name...
From Arboleras vol. 3, Sephardic songs from the 20th century, 2000 Composed during the Balkan War of 1912-1913. The theme develops around the pain a wife that looses her husband, or possibly a mother who...
From Morenika Izmirlia - Judeo-Spanish songs from Smyrna, 2020 Against the backdrop of medieval wars, the romance The Return of the Husband (La vuelta del marido), reflects a pan-European theme. The husband returns after a...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y 5600/10 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 140, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. In this children's rhyme, sung by an adult to a young child...
The first part of this song is a children's melody for the traditional blessing for food, the second melody is part of the Havdala home ritual.
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5996a/14 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 294, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. A mourning song for a young maiden dying. Like a rose in the...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 1038/9 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 215, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. A description of the brides's bath, complete with massages and  cosmetics, which...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y 5982a/19 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 273, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. This is a parting song between daughter and mother. The daughter tells her...
From Arboleras vol. 3, Sephardic songs from the 20th century, 2000 One of the first songs (composed by Beni Benayora, one of the first promoters of the new settlements) that tells of the difficulties of...
From Arboleras vol. 3, Sephardic songs from the 20th century, 2000 Among the trades, this song presents a character: the whitewasher, who is an ironic figure, since the lyrics say: "The whitewasher has dirty arms...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 1332/15 Referenced and notated in: El ciclo de la vida, pg. 276, Editorial Alpuerto, 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak. This song is about the bride's farewell from her family, specifically her...
This song is about the bride's farewell from her family, specifically from her mother, as she leaves her home to go to live at her husband's house.