You’ve probably heard of Hebrew and Yiddish, but did you know there’s another Jewish language out there? It’s called Ladino (or Judeo-Español) – a fun melange of Castilian Spanish and Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Turkish and some French and other Balkan languages. I see it as my personal mission to help the revival of this language and culture.
If Yiddish is the language of Ashkenazi Jews, then Ladino is the language of Sephardic Jews – you could call it the Spanish Yiddish! When the Jews were expelled from the Iberian peninsula back in the time of Columbus, they brought the language of their region to new countries: the north of Africa and the Ottoman Empire were the most welcoming harbours of hope at the time.
Although it has no official language status in any country, Ladino has been acknowledged as a minority language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, France, and Turkey. In 2017, it was formally recognised by the Royal Spanish Academy.
Surpassed boundaries
Ladino or Judeo-Español developed in outer regions over the centuries and surpassed boundaries, reaching the Balkans and even the Carribeans. The language was adapted into two main different dialects, Oriental Ladino and Western Ladino.
Just as it is with Yiddish speakers in Eastern Europe, the majority of Ladino speakers perished during the Second World War. Survivors were drawn to Latin America because the language were very similar to Ladino, but many adopted Spanish as their primary language.
Historically, the Rashi script and its cursive form Solitreo* have been the main orthographies for writing Ladino, but today it’s mainly written in the Latin alphabet.
Istanbul and Ismir
Today, the countries hosting the most Ladino speakers are Israel and Turkey, where approximately 150 families still converse. Istanbul and Ismir are prominent Ladino-speaking cities too, and have even been publishing a Ladino newspaper called El Amaneser (The Dawn) since 2005.
Unfortunately, a gap exists between the older and newer generations, as for the most part, Ladino has not been passed on to the younger generation and is therefore at risk of extinction. Most native speakers are elderly, and the language is not passed to their children or grandchildren for various reasons. Thankfully, I’m happy to see it is experiencing a minor revival, especially through music.
Matriarchal language
My grandmother spoke Ladino but my father forbade us to speak Ladino to each other and my mom was also not allowed to speak Ladino to her mother and sister. I grew up in a purist Hebrew speaking household and therefore almost lost touch with a unique and beautiful part of my upbringing.
Ladino is a matriarchal language – both in scripture and in literature you can find many mother – daughter dialogues and they are directly connected to Mediaeval Jewish culture. In those days men were focused on learning Hebrew and Torah in the synagogue and, since it was an isolated community, they didn’t make a lot of effort to converse with their surroundings. The women stayed at home and had to learn the local languages. To haggle with merchants, exchange recipes and gossip – how else would you know the news?
Poetry and theatre plays
For recreation, they wrote and composed all the fantastic Ladino songs we know today and also wrote intricate poetry and theatre plays. These artists are unknown to us by name, but I dare you to find one person who knows Ladino who doesn’t know the melody of the romance Morenica. It’s a timeless piece that surpasses our imagination and cultural references, making this culture unique and prolific at the same time.
Lamentation of the golden cage
This is also why many Ladino songs are about mother-daughter relationships – they capture the intimacy and fondness that is only achieved within close family circuits. Other songs and poetry topics include freedom, or to be more precise, the lack of freedom – as these women lamented the golden cages they were held in, which they genuinely wanted to escape.
Morenika is a perfect example of this: the song describes a doomsday call of a young bride, who goes down to the beach on the morning of her wedding day and looks out to the sea, in hopes to see her long lost sailor love, before she makes the sacrifice to commit to another man.
Revival of language and culture
History is always written by the victors. But here we have a unique opportunity to tap into a sense of time and reference we don’t normally find in other history or anthropology. Ladino music and literature were written by often overlooked ordinary people, which explains why these melodies touch us even today – five hunderd years after being lost and almost forgotten.
I see it is a personal mission of mine to help the revival of this language and culture. This is why I recorded an album of traditional songs Andalusian Brew and a new album of original Ladino songs I wrote & composed myself Ke Haber.**
Ancient with a touch of magic
I play Ladino because I see the future when I look at the past. The Sephardic Jews define themselves as orthodox but they also believe in magic. It’s an ancient language but it reflects modern cultural & moral values. I just love this contradiction.
In my work I try to capture the spirit of an endangered language and culture, connect it to the 21st century with socially pertinent lyrics, celebrating migration, gender and alternative belief systems.
Homoerotic poetry and transgender transformation
I do this because I believe that ancient cultures often have a lot to teach us. In some ways they are even more advanced than us. I witnessed it many times in my research, when I stumbled across texts about alternative passing away ceremonies, rituals of protecting babies from the bad fairies of the underworld, infidelity, homoerotic poetry and even a text about a transgender transformation from the 13th century. In many ways we’re still on the same wavelength, or at least, we keep on asking the same questions in our lifetime.
This journey of mine is about connecting to an inner root that is calling to be discovered – and I hope to have you join the ride on the CD presentation at the BIMHUIS Amsterdam on January 8th.
In her new album Ke Haber Nani captures the spirit of an endangered Ladino language and culture and connects it to the 21st century with socially pertinent lyrics, celebrating migration, gender and alternative belief systems.
**This album will be presented in the BIMHUIS Amsterdam on January 8th – launched together with a limited run vinyl of 250 prints.
cover: from Nani’s concert at Kennedy Center, Washington DC
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