Yasmin Levy

Yasmin Levy , born on December 23, 1975 in Jerusalem , is an Israeli singer-songwriter of Judaeo-Spanish music .¹ Her late father, Isaac Levy, was a composer and cantor, pioneer researcher into the long and rich history of the Ladino music and culture of Spanish Jewry and its diaspora , being the editor of the Ladino language magazine Aki Yerushalayim . With her distinctive and emotive style, Yasmin has brought a new interpretation to the medieval Ladino/ Judeo-Spanish song by incorporating more "modern" sounds of Andalusian Flamenco and Turkey , as well as combining instruments like the darbuka , oud , violin , cello , and piano . In her second album, La Judería ( Sp : "The Jewish Quarter"), she also covered the popular songs Gracias a la Vida by Violeta Parra and Nací en Alamó from the film Vengo , directed by Tony Gatlif , which in its original version won the 2001 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film . Her debut album was Romance & Yasmin in 2000, which earned her a nomination as Best Newcomer for the fRoots / BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards 2005, followed in 2005 with her second album La Juderia . In 2006 she was nominated again, then in the category Culture Crossing . Yasmin's work earned her the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation Award for promoting cross-cultural dialogue between musicians from three cultures. In her own words: I am proud to combine the two cultures of Ladino and flamenco, while mixing in Middle Eastern influences. I am embarking on a 500 years old musical journey, taking Ladino to Andalusia and mixing it with flamenco, the style that still bears the musical memories of the old Moorish and Jewish-Spanish world with the sound of the Arab world. In a way it is a ‘musical reconciliation’ of history.²