Yasmin Levy – World Music Institute Q&A
Pre-performance Q&A at 7:30 PM with the artist moderated by ethnomusicologist Samuel R. Thomas, Ph.D
Yasmin Levy is an exceptional Israeli singer who sings in Ladino, an ancient form of the Spanish language that was kept alive by the Sephardic Jews. With a deep, spiritual, and moving style, Yasmin Levy is a leading voice in Ladino song and culture. She combines the flavors of Flamenco as well as Turkish and Persian music into a style of her own.
Yasmin made it her cause to recast and transmit the disappearing musical legacy of Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language of the Sephardic Jewish communities that were driven from Spain in the late 15th century. Amongst Sephardic Jewish communities across North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East, Ladino survived as a language until almost vanishing in the 20th century. Yasmin’s father, Yitzhak Levy, was the head of the Ladino department at Israel’s National Radio but Yitzhak died when Yasmin was only a baby. Before his passing he had taught her mother the songs and, in turn, she taught Yasmin.
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