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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: Yc 2325/2  Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marruecos pg. 208, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. We know this romance exclusively from the Sephardic versions from...
The informant explains at the end of this children's rhyme,  is said while placing a hand on the mezusa before getting into bed at night.
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: YCD2980/6       Referenced and notated in: La Boda Sefardí, Música, texto y contexto, Editorial Alpuerto S.A. 2007, Susana Weich-Shahak This concern for the financial burden of the dowry was expressed in...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement:Y4552/7 Referenced and notated in: La Boda Sefardi, pg. 132, Editorial Alpuerto, 2007 Susana Weich-Shahak. A song about when the new couple arrives at the household of the groom. They enter...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: CD2980/39 This rare Hanuka copla presents the drink and delicacies that are prepared for the festive occasion: chicken and roast meat (tandur, Tur.) that the muchachas - girls, offer on...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement:Y 3995/3  Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marruecos, pg. 88, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. This romance recounts the death of the son and heir of...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5982a/21  Referenced and notated in: El Ciclo de la Vida, en el Repertorio Musical de las Comunidades Sefardies de Oriente, pg. 176, Editorial Alpuerto S.A. 2013 Susana Weich-Shahak This is...
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd 2, 2009 A lullaby listing the future achievements and good fortune of the baby boy.
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 rare lullaby expressing good...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5982a/40 This is a fragment of the Romance of the Captured sister, Hermana Cautiva, but a few borrowed lines another romance. Text: De las altas mares   traien a la niña...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y5842b/27   Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Oriente, pg. 70, Editorial Alpuerto, 2010 Susana Weich-Shahak. Another ballad about prisoners and captives, this one widely spread among Sephardic Jews in...
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, cd1, 2009 Another ballad about prisoners and captives, this one widely spread among Sephardic Jews in the East and Morocco, as...
From Arboleras - De las altas mares, Ecos Sefardies de la isle de Rodas, 2009 Text: De principio de mis males   naviguí con la fortuna, caí en civdades ajenas,   lugares que non conocía, con relámpago...
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: NSA Yc 2486/20    Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marruecos pg. 91, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. Text: De prisión llevan al Vergico,   el rey le...