Join us for an evening of beautiful vocal music as we celebrate traditional songs from the Mizrahi and Sephardi Jewish diasporas, debut new music inspired by traditional songs in the Judeo-Spanish language of Ladino, and learn about rich cultural traditions and experiences of Ladino-speaking Jews throughout the diaspora.
Voices That Wander is a choral project which explores traditional songs in Ladino, the language of Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews who fled the inquisitions. The Wing-It Singers choir will perform new arrangements of traditional Ladino songs by Sally Davies, and brand new choral compositions by composer Lydia Samuels. Joining the choir are guest soloists Ana Silvera, Miriam Gould, David Ridley and Rosalie Warner.
Vanessa Paloma Elbaz, a Moroccan Jewish singer, scholar and expert in the music of the diasporic regions of 1492’s expulsion, will be sharing her knowledge of Ladino women’s songs through a dynamic fusion of music, visuals, and storytelling.
Singer and composer Ana Silvera, who fuses the traditional music of her own lineage with a contemporary sound, will share Ladino traditional songs in a solo performance.
Joining us will be oral historian Dr Bea Lewkowicz, director of Sephardi Voices UK, who will be in conversation with Lebanese born visual artist Leslie Hakim-Dowek. Leslie's mother, Rebecca Hakim Dowek, was a Ladino speaker and who was interviewed for the Sephardi Voices UK archive.
Bea and Leslie will discuss the importance of Ladino, Leslie's journey from Beirut to London, and a recent project which involves Ladino lullabyes and photographs of traces of Jewish lives in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.
