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Ballads, Wedding Songs and Piyyutim of the Sephardic Jews of Tetuan and Tangier, Morocco

Various Artists
Ballads, Wedding Songs and Piyyutim of the Sephardic Jews of Tetuan and Tangier, Morocco

The songs on this 1983 Folkways release are both soulful and haunting, reminders of a "golden age" prior to 1492, when Jews were expelled from Spain. The Jews of Tetuan, which became one of the most important Jewish communities in North Africa, preserved the old ballads in Medieval Spanish, and for daily use spoke an updated idiom. Here women sing romance and ritual songs a cappella, while a cantor from Tangier performs the piyyutim, the religious poetry written in Hebrew by the great Medieval Jewish writers and sung in the synagogue during services.

Liner notes include song lyrics in Spanish and their English translation as well as a history of the Jewish presence in Morocco and northern Africa.

Track Listing

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101
Alicia Benassayag
03:14
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102
Flora Benamol
03:25
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103
Flora Benamol
01:14
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104
Flora Benamol
02:14
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105
Alicia Benassayag
03:00
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106
Flora Benamol
02:55
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107
Alicia Benassayag
02:29
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108
Alicia Benassayag
02:24
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109
Alicia Benassayag
03:15
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201
Flora Benamol
03:50
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202
Female singer, Tétouan, Morocco
02:09
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203
Ester Kadosh Israel
04:11
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204
Solomon Siboni
02:50
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205
Solomon Siboni
02:31
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206
Solomon Siboni
02:33
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207
Solomon Siboni
01:31
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208
Solomon Siboni
02:49
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209
Solomon Siboni
01:13