kfarcenter.com Blog

El Nora

Anyone who thinks Jewish music equals klezmer needs to hear Divahn’s Middle Eastern and Sephardic grooves. Fans first heard Divahn’s energetic music deep in the heart of Texas. Today, this dynamic New York City-based quintet delights audiences throughout the country and has made numerous live radio appearances. Divahn infuses traditional songs with sophisticated harmonies and arrangements using tabla, cello, rabel, doumbek, violin and other acoustic instruments, plus vocals in Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Aramaic and Turkish.
Their beautiful lyricism flows through an intense rhythmic drive. The group distinguishes itself as the only all-female ensemble performing Mizrakhi-influenced music (Jewish music from the Middle East and North Africa) in the US, and has performed with some of the world’s most renowned master musicians, including Glen Velez and Anindo Chatterjee. Divahn, a word common to Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, means a collection of songs or poetry. Through its music, Divahn seeks to underscore common ground shared between diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religions. The group captures the breadth and diversity of Mizrakhi and Sephardi music throughout the centuries, while simultaneously creating and redefining innovative directions for the music in the present.

El Nora
Ayni Tzofiah
Hamavdeel
Vashti

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Sarah Aroeste leads the world’s only Ladino Rock band, performing a funky fusion of Spanish, Mediterranean and American musical styles. Inspired by her family’s cultural heritage–orginally from Spain and later settling in Salonika, Greece– the Aroeste sound combines and updates aspects from her unique family background.

Most influenced by the music and language of her Spanish roots, Aroeste grounds her music in Ladino, or castillian Spanish, the language originated by Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. This medieval form of Spanish was carried by Spanish Jews to the various points where they later settled, primarily along the Mediterranean coast and North Africa. In time, ladino came to absorb bits and pieces of languages all along the Mediterranean coast, including Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Hebrew.

This exotic pan-Mediterranean language has, unfortunately, been fading away and is hardly spoken anymore. But the musical legacy of Spanish Jews highlights the strength of an oral tradition that spans many centuries and unites a linguistic group. Until WWII the vibrant Spanish Jewish communities, particularly throughout the Mediterranean, had been able to perpetuate a significant Hispanic influence throughout the region. Following the War, Mediterranean Jews emigrated in large numbers to the U.S and Latin America, where their proud communities continue to retain a link, in many ways through music, with their medieval hispanic past.

American born, Aroeste has decided to revive this rich body of music by combining it with more contemporary musical influences. Encouraged by an influx of Latin-based music in America over the past few years, Aroeste hopes to make Sephardic music more recognized and accessible as well. Her family’s original Spanish-Greek name, Aroeste, or “of the West,” truly reflects her style of music by combining traditional Mediterranean sounds with contemporary rock, funk, jazz and blues. Using traditional instruments such as oud and dumbek, alongside electric guitar, bass and drums, Sarah Aroeste seeks to bring new life and energy to the beautiful and mysterious sounds of Sephardic music. Her sets include contemporary takes on traditional Mediterranean ladino songs, as well as original songs written in English, set to Spanish Mediterranean backgrounds.

A La Una
Arvoles
Hija Mia
Puertas

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