This week Down Home host Henrietta Yurchenco draws from material collected during her 1954 field work among Sephardic Jewish women in Tetuan and Tangier, Morocco. The songs they sang into her microphone have been popular since at least the 15th century, before the reconquest of Spain and the Inquisition, when the Moors and Jews were driven out.
Songs of the Sephardic Jewish Women of Morocco
For more information on this subject see Henrietta’s own website. – You will find a free web edition of her book on the subject “In Their Own Voices” and English translations of all the song lyrics! They’re fascinating.
These songs are so beautiful, where can I download the songs
You can download all the songs at http://henriettayurchenco.com/ITOV/ITOV1.html . Just click on the name of each song. Glad you like them!
Thank you for this great program on the Sephardic songs. I teach Medieval Spanish lit. and it was wonderful listening to these songs actually being sung. It is much better than the commercial recordings that I have heard.
All the best,
Scott Hadley
I was born in Tangier Morocco and would very much like to hear the songs that my mother and grandmother use to sing to us when we were children.
Thanks for writing in. What song are you looking for? Be great to find it!
All the best – Eli