Article

Singing the Memory of Sepharad: Traditional Sephardic Song and its Interpretation

Katerina Garcia

Published in: Ethnomusicology Ireland 5 (2017)

Pages: 174-193 | Published Online: July 2017

https://doi.org/10.64208/OHUB6399

Abstract

The transmission and interpretation of Sephardic songs is inextricably linked to Sephardic culture, and to this day represents a powerful marker of identity. It is the aim of this article to first contextualise traditional Sephardic song by outlining a brief introduction into the cultural background of the Sephardic Diaspora. Subsequently, I will introduce the various secular forms and genres of Sephardic traditional song, focusing on the modes of their interpretation by both contemporary Sephardic and non-Sephardic musicians. In doing so, I will propose a typology of performance approaches, with regards to the role that the re-imagining of Sepharad as a mythical land of the past plays in this process.

Author: Katerina Garcia