Ladino

The matriarchal language: Ladino singer Nani Vazana on her rise to fame

Nani Vazana explained that Ladino, not just in her personal story, is the matriarchal language.

 NANI VAZANA: Restoring traditions
 Israeli Ladino Orchestra

Jerusalem to host its first ever – soon to be annual – Ladino music festival

 ARIEL LAZARUS (in blue suit) and the Israeli Ladino Orchestra.

Bringing Ladino melodies to the Jewish Music Days Festival

 SHIRAN SHAHAR BOREK – aka Shiran: Combining Greek and Ladino.

Vocalist Shiran Shahar Borek spreads the Greek musical word


Ladino Orchestra: A beacon of hope, healing in throughout Israel

Amid the ongoing war with Hamas, Jerusalem's Ladino Orchestra has become a healing mobile music unit available to all who call upon it across the country.

 JERUSALEM-BASED Ladino Orchestra members pose outside Heichal Shlomo, the Great Synagogue, where they rehearse.

Remembering Moshe Shaul: The man who helped revive Ladino

Scholars and Ladino speakers agree that he single-handedly revived the language at a time when it was on the decline and Sephardi culture had lost relevance.

 Moshe Shaul addressing a gathering of Ladino-speaking Jews in Jerusalem in 2012.

Al'Fado to play Jewish-Portuguese songs at Jewish Music Days Fest

Tamir is coming over together with the Portugal-based Israeli-Portuguese Al’Fado band, predominantly to perform Ladino material.

 THE ISRAELI-PORTUGUESE Al’Fado band is a ‘sort of mish-mash of all kinds of influences,’ according to Gal Tamir.

Paying a visit to Jewish Istanbul

One cannot visit a country with a culture as rich as that of Turkey without paying homage to some of its outstanding sites.

 ISTANBUL’S OLD Ortaköy Cemetery.

Jewish cultural encounters in the province of Limon, Costa Rica

 Jewish-Ladino singer Doris Benmaman

In Turkey, a festival revives a jewel of the Sephardic world

Izmir, Turkey, once known in Greek as Smyrna, has had a Jewish presence since antiquity, with early church documents mentioning Jews as far back as the second century AD.

The festival included concerts of Jewish and Ladino music, traditional food tastings and lectures on Izmir’s Jewish community.

Bosnian Jews mourn Moris Albahari, one of Sarajevo’s last Ladino speakers

Moris Albahari, a Holocaust survivor, former partisan fighter and one of the last Ladino speakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s dwindling Jewish community, passed away at the age of 93 last month.

 Moris Albahari, shown in a documentary about his story called “Saved by Language,” was a pillar of Sarajevo's Jewish community.

Grapevine June 24, 2022: A matter of precedent

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

 PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG greets members of Yemeni families whose infant children disappeared.

‘Beauty Queen of Jerusalem’ and more shows which shine a spotlight on Ladino

We have compiled a list of a few that feature at least some spoken Ladino and are available to rent or to stream for free online.

SWELL ARIEL OR and Israel Ogalbo star in ‘The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.’

Ladino music on display in Jerusalem

The utilitarian property of Ladino is one of the elements that underscore Thursday’s concert (8:30 p.m.) at Jerusalem’s Confederation House.

 VOCALIST, PERCUSSIONIST, composer and arranger Esti Kenan Ofri (left).

Israeli singer Noam Vazana finds her roots through Ladino music

It was on a trip to Morocco when Vazana encountered a powerful light bulb moment.

 LADINO MAVEN Noam ‘Nani’ Vazana: I want the language to survive, and I want the music to thrive, not as an ancient historical form but as something vibrant and contemporary.