The Sephardic Jews are one of the three main ethnicities among Diaspora Jews, the others being the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi. Sephardic Jews originally referred just to the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, but now applies to most of the Mediterranean region as a whole, especially as they have also lived among the Mizrahim for centuries. The Spanish Jewish community, however, remains the center of a form of popular music referred to as Sephardic. Sephardim (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew SÉ™fardi, Tiberian Hebrew ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Sfaradim, Tiberian Hebrew ) are a subgroup of Jews, generally defined in contrast to Ashkenazim and/or . ... Look up Diaspora in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The term diaspora (Ancient Greek διασπορά, a scattering or sowing of seeds) is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands, being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the... Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים Standard Hebrew, AÅ¡kanazi,AÅ¡kanazim, Tiberian Hebrew, ʾAÅ¡kănāzî, ʾAÅ¡kănāzîm, pronounced sing. ... Mizrachi is also an organisation of the Religious Zionist Movement Mizrahi Jews or Oriental Jews (מזרחי eastern, Standard Hebrew Mizraḥi, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥî; plural מזרחים easterners, Standard Hebrew Mizraḥim, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥîm) are Jews of Middle Eastern origin; that is to say, their ancestors never left the Middle East. ... topographic map of the Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ...

Sephardic music was born in medieval Spain, with cancioneros being performed at the royal courts. Since then, it has picked up influences from across Spain, Morocco, Argentina, Turkey, Greece and various popular tunes from Spain and further abroad. There are three types of Sephardic songs -- topical and entertainment songs, romance songs and spiritual or ceremonial songs. Lyrics can be in several languages, including Hebrew for religious songs, and Ladino. Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Ladino is a Romance language, derived mainly from Old Castilian (Spanish) and Hebrew. ...

These song traditions spread from Spain to Morocco (the Western Tradition) and several parts of the Ottoman Empire (the Eastern Tradition) including Greece, Jerusalem, the Balkans and Egypt. Sephardic music adapted to each of these locals, assimilating typically Moroccan high-pitched, extended ululations, obscure Balkan rhythms like 9/8 and maqam, the Turkish modal system. The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (Ottoman Turkish for the Eternal State) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Constantinople (Ä°stanbul) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 6. ... Jerusalem (31°46′ N 35°14′ E; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe southeastern Europe (see the Definitions and boundaries section below). ... In Arab music a maqam [sic] (plural maqamat) is, a technique of improvisation that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and which is unique to Arabian art music. ... Nobody gives a fuck about musical modes. ...

Singers are traditionally mostly women, who sing while performing household tasks. These songs are usually unaccompanied. There is no harmony. Tambourines and other percussion instruments are sometimes used, especially in wedding songs. Men have added oud and qanún to the instrumentation, and more modern performers incorporate countless other imported instruments. Harmony is the use and study of pitch simultaneity and chords, actual or implied, in music. ... Kocek with tambourine 19th c. ... Percussion instruments are music instruments played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped, hence the percussive name. ... Nubian wedding with some international modern touches, near Aswan, Egypt A wedding is a civil or religious ceremony at which the beginning of a marriage is celebrated. ... Front and rear views of an oud. ... The qanún or kanun is a musical string instrument used in Middle-Eastern music. ...

The early 20th century saw some popular commercial recordings of Sephardic music come out of Greece and Turkey, followed by Jerusalem and other parts of the Eastern Tradition. The first performers were mostly men, including the Turks Jack Mayesh, Haim Efendi and Yitzhak Algazi. Later, a new generation of singers arose, many of whom were not themselves Sephardic. Gloria Levy, Pasharos Sefardíes and Flory Jagoda are popular Eastern Tradition performers of this period. Yasmin Levy is among the new generation of singers bringing a new interpretation to the Ladino/ Judeo-Spanish heritage, mixing it with Andalusian Flamenco. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... This article deals with the Judaeo-Spanish language. ... Motto: Dominator Hercules Fundator Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad (Andalusia for herself, for Spain, and for humanity) Capital Seville Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 2nd  87 268 km²  17,2% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 1st  7 478 432  17,9%  85,70... Flamenco dancer Belen Maya, photograph taken by Gilles Larrain at his studio, 2001 Flamenco is a song, music and dance style which is strongly influenced by the Gitanos, but which has its deeper roots in Moorish and Jewish musical traditions. ...

References

• Cohen, Judith. "Ladino Romance". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 370-379. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0

External Links

• Zemerl, the Jewish music database
• The Sabras Band