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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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From Arboleras Vol. 2 - Romances Sefardies Tradicion Oral The romance tells the story of the rape of the noble Roman lady Lucretia by Tarquin Sextus (son of the last king of Rome, Tarquin the...
From Arboleras vol. 1 - Sephardic cancionero and coplas oral tradition,1996 This is a tragic story of a scandalous affair between a man who left his wife for Esterilika (Esterina) Serfati.
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd 2, 2009 A philosophical love song, where the singer wanders by night with a golden lantern, consumed by love and...
From Ventanas Altas de Saloniki, 2013. This song tells the story of Florika - a charming and coquettish maid who flirts with the three generations of men in the house, finally marrying the youngest. By...
From Merendjenas, Orit Perlman, 2023 This song tells the story of Florika - a charming and coquetish maid who flirts with the three generations of men in the house, finally marrying the youngest. By duo...
From Arboleras vol. 3, Sephardic songs from the 20th century, 2000 This song tells the story of Florika - a charming and coquetish maid who flirts with the three generations of men in the house,...
From Morenika Izmirlia - Judeo-Spanish songs from Smyrna, 2020 In this romance about the painful life of the galley (La vida de las galeras) the musical stanza comprises only one line, followed by a sort...
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd 2, 2009
From Arboleras Vol. 2 - Romances Sefardies Tradicion Oral The ballad of Juan Lorenzo refers to an episode in Portuguese history: the adulterous affair between King Ferdinand I (14th century) and Leonor Tellez, wife of...
From Decile a mi Amor, Judeo-Spanish songs from Tetuan, 2018. This copla for Shavuot, the holiday for the receiving of the Torah,  begins with a verse in Hebrew, the first line of which, Hi Torá...
From Kanta Gayiko, Judeo-Spanish songs from Bulgaria, 2025 Kobi Zarco : voice  Yarden Erez : ud, guitar, gumbush; violin, keyboard and arrangements Zeev Yaniv : darbuqa, sonaja, bendir, cajón A copla composed in nine-line stanzas,...
From Ventanas Altas de Saloniki, 2013. This song criticizes the free ways of modern women. It's melody and refrain are borrowed from  “La Madelon”, a popular French World War I song about a lively girl...
From Kanta Gayiko, Judeo-Spanish songs from Bulgaria, 2025
From Kanta Gayiko, Judeo-Spanish songs from Bulgaria, 2025 This humoristic song has borrowed its melody from a Bulgarian folksong.