Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Yasmin Levy (Hebrew: יסמין לוי), born on December 23, 1975 in Jerusalem, is an Israeli singer-songwriter of Judaeo-Spanish music.
Career
Her late father, Yitzhak (Isaac) Levy (1919–1977), was a composer and cantor, pioneer researcher into the long and rich history of the Ladino music and culture of Spanish Jewry and its diaspora, being the editor of the Ladino language magazine Aki Yerushalayim. With her distinctive and emotive style, Yasmin has brought a new interpretation to the medieval Ladino/Judeo-Spanish song by incorporating more "modern" sounds of Andalusian Flamenco and Persian, as well as combining instruments like the darbuka, oud, violin, cello, and piano. In her second album, La Judería (Sp: "The Jewish Quarter"), she also covered the popular songs Gracias a la Vida by Violeta Parra and Nací en Alamó from the film Vengo, directed by Tony Gatlif, which in its original version won the 2001 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film (itself being a cover of "Το Τραγούδι των Γύφτων" ["To Traghoudi ton Yifton", "The Song of the Gypsies"], written by Greek songwriter Dionysis Tsaknis in 1990).
Her debut album was Romance & Yasmin in 2000, which earned her a nomination as Best Newcomer for the fRoots / BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards 2005, followed in 2005 with her second album La Juderia. In 2006 she was nominated again, then in the category Culture Crossing.
Yasmin's work earned her the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation Award for promoting cross-cultural dialogue between musicians from three cultures. In her own words:
I am proud to combine the two cultures of Ladino and flamenco, while mixing in Middle Eastern influences. I am embarking on a 500 years old musical journey, taking Ladino to Andalusia and mixing it with flamenco, the style that still bears the musical memories of the old Moorish and Jewish-Spanish world with the sound of the Arab world. In a way it is a ‘musical reconciliation’ of history.
ياسمين ليفي تحمل إلى أهل مونتريال تراث اليهود الشرقيين تتحدّر الفنانة ياسمين ليفي من سلالة يهودية عاشت العذابات والمآسي التي قاساها اليهود الذين طردوا من اسبانيا والبرتغال في القرن الخامس عشر وهم اليوم يعرفون باسم اليهود السفارديم أو اليهود الشرقيين... ياسمين ليفي وإن كانت ولدت في القدس إلا أن والدها الذي ولد في تركيا وتوفي منذ كانت هي في ربيعها الأول, وكذلك والدتها نقلا إليها تراث اليهود السفارديين الذي بغالبيته ليس مدونا وإنما تناقلته الأجيال من جيل إلى جيل عبر الشفة واللسان. وقد نذرت هذه الفنانة موهبتها وصوتها للحفاظ على هذا التراث من الاندثار لذلك تصّر ياسمين ليفي على متابعة الغناء بلغة خاصة هي لغة اليهود السفارديم وتسمى لادينو. وتشكّل هذه اللغة مزيجا من اللغة اللاتينية مع احتوائها على كلمات عبرية.