ISRAEL • JUDEO-SPANISH SONGS FROM EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

This recording is a contribution to the public dissemination of Judeo-Spanish songs as sung by its original transmitters. Its unedited and “original” content precisely conveys the variety of sources included in the Sephardi folksong legacy. Throughout the past five centuries, the Judeo-Spanish culture in the Ottoman Empire has been exposed to a wide variety of influences. Moreover, the performances of Bienvenida Aguado (who spent most of her life in Istanbul) and Loretta Gerassi (raised in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) mirror the contemporary state of the Judeo-Spanish folksong repertory, which is mostly carried by immigrants who left their country of origin at an early age and were detached since then from the traditional Sephardi society. A melange of very old traditions and modern acquisitions, some of the latter stemming from the mass media, is the hallmark of their repertory.