Sephardi

``Sephardi'' literally means Spanish, and designate Jews from mainly Spain but also North Africa, Greece and Egypt.

Following the expulsion of all non-Christians, forced to convert to Christianism or to the exile in 1492, the very rich, cultivated and fruitful Jewish culture existing in Spain has migrated massively into the Ottoman Empire and thus constitute the main brach of Jews living currently in Turkey.

Their language besides the Hebrew is called Ladino. Ladino is a 15th. century of Spanish. Much of their musical repertoire is in that language. The Sephardi music mixes many elements from traditional Arab, North African, Turkish idioms.

In medieval Spain, ``canciones'' being performed at the royal courts constitued the basis of the Sephardic music.

Spiritual, ceremonial and entertainment songs all coexists in Sephardic music. Lyrics are generally Hebrew for religious songs and Ladino for othersf Sephardic songs - topical and

The genre in its spread to North Africa, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Egypt assimilated many musical elements. Including the North African high-pitched, extended ululations; Balkan rhythms, for instance in 9/8 time; and the Turkish maqam modes.

Woman voice is often preferred while the instruments included the ``oud'' and ``qanun'' which are not traditionally Jewish instruments.

Some popular Sephardic music has been released as commercial recordings in the early 20th Century. Among the first popular singers of the genre were men and included 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.