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Introduction:

Ladino is a creolization1 of Spanish and Hebrew that features many words of the Spanish

language, while also mixing the spelling and pronunciation rules of Hebrew. Ladino has been

considered a dying language by the Endangered Language Alliance, an organization of linguist

who work toward preserving dying languages. The loss of the language would also cause the loss

of culture and knowledge, which is why this information is necessary. From its emergence in

Spain to its fall in the Ottoman Empire, the Ladino language has paralleled the status of the Jews

throughout time. By exploring the history of Jewish culture in Spain, the history of the Ladino

language will also be revealed. Educators can understand the effect of teaching this repertoire as

not only a way to give students “new” music, but also to preserve culture.

Background:

To understand the decline of the Ladino language, we need to go back more than a

millennium to the eighth century. Before then, Jews were slaves to the Visigoths2 in Spain and

were only allowed to practice Catholicism. The Moors3 wanted to start conquering the lands that

were claimed by the Visigoths, so Moorish officers devised a strategy to free the Jews of the

Visigothic Kingdom, and then ally with them for the battles. This lead to the many battles that

were concluded in 718, when the Moors won. This marked the start of a Golden Age, the Jewish

Golden Age of Spain.

This Golden Age takes place from 718 to 1066. This was one of the rare times in Jewish

history where Jews were allowed to freely celebrate their religion in an, at the time, modern city.

1 A mixture of two parent languages.

2 A western nomadic tribe that stemmed from the Germanic people of the fourth century.
3 Muslims who resided in the Iberian Peninsula.
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Famous Jews did their work in Spain such as Torah4 scholar Maimondes, explorer Benjamin of

Tudela5, and many poets. This freedom to be able to write and study was unrivaled at the time,

and both Jews and Moors were able to coexist in Spain. It was not until Catholic rule reemerged

in Spain that this was disrupted. The Moors stormed the cities of high government power in

1066, called a massacre by historians, killing more than 4000 Jews in one night. This started the

persecution of Jews in Spain and it lasted for a little more than four centuries. In March 1492,

Spanish rulers signed the Alhambra decree, a statement of expulsion to all practicing Jews of

Spain. They had the option to either leave the country or convert to Catholicism. This, along with

the massacres of centuries prior, caused over 200,000 Jews in Spain alone to convert, and over

100,000 people were expelled from Spain.

4 Jewish book of religious text.

5 9th Century explorer of Western Asia
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References:
Botton, Richard. Anthology of Jewish Art Song: The Ladino Collection. New York City:
Transcontinental Music Publications, 2007.
This is an anthology of songs in Ladino. The preface, also written by Botton, discusses
the importance of languages in music, which is a portion of my section on pedagogical
purposes. He discusses that dying languages need to be embraced in lessons, as that is the
only way to maintain a dialogue with the language.

Castel, Nico. A Singer’s Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction. Mt. Morris: Excalibur
Publishing, 1994.
Castel’s diction manual contains many sections describing the difference of diction
between countries and dialects. This is currently the most up-to-date guide on Spanish
diction and Castel talks about how he lived for years in different regions of Spain to
analyze the differences in diction. Through the International Phonetic Alphabet
explanations, we are able to see how Spain’s Ladino language differs from the Ottoman
Empire’s Ladino language.

Lazar, Moshe. The Sephardic Tradition: Ladino and Spanish-Jewish Literature. New York
City: W. W. Norton, 1972.
A part of a series of collected Jewish works, Lazar compiles and translates non-fiction
works including news articles and autobiographies. By analyzing this text, I can get more
socio-economic context to the various authors who wrote. Given that Lazar compiled the
books himself, I understand that he may have wanted to paint this type of literature in a
positive light.

Lehmann, Matthias. Ladino Rabbinic Literature and Ottoman Sephardic Culture.

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
While this book focuses on culture of Sephardic Jews in a religious light, this information
also includes information about the social status of Jews in the Ottoman Empire. Each
chapter prefaces its topics of worship, such as High Holy Days, by talking about an
aspect of the socio-economic status of Jews in the Ottoman Empire. While the
information is few, it is useful to the background of Ladino and its decent into an
endangered language.
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Morante, Manuel. 40 Canciones Sefardies. Barcelona: Casa Beethoven, 1983.

The preface of this anthology includes brief history of Sephardic culture. I will be
referencing this source when discussing the rise and fall of Sephardic culture. This source
is older than a decade and new information has been found since its inception. However,
the accessibility of this information gives for a cohesive timeline to help understand the
background of Sephardic Jews.

Neuman, Abraham. The Jews in Spain: their social, political and cultural life during the
Middle Ages. New York City: Octagon Press, 1969.
Neuman’s book is being used to talk about the background of the Ladino language,
specifically its evolution. While this source is half a century old at this point, not many
articles discuss the evolution of the language. This, in conjunction with Castel, will
describe the evolution of the language from traditional Hebrew, to solatreo, to its
Romanized form we use today.
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Abstract:

The Spanish Golden Age (roughly 1580-1680) is represented by Cervantes’ writing of

Don Quixote and the advances in theater, art, architecture, and music. There was an influx of

different types of religions as many people travelled to southern Spain to enrich themselves

and add pieces of their own culture. Jewish culture was a prominent part of Spanish Culture

and there was a creolization of Hebrew and Spanish, Ladino. Many folk songs were composed

for guitar, flute, percussion and voice, and preserved through time with the aural passing down

of lullabies and stories of love. As time moved on, the once most populated Jewish space was

challenged by Catholic rule; Jews were told to leave Spain or convert to Catholicism. Many

chose to immigrate to the Ottoman Empire.

The education system of Western vocal music focuses on a majority of languages that

many students do not necessarily understand, Italian, French, and German. With a translator or

poetic translation, students tend to be able to understand the song they’re singing. Why can’t

the same happen with a language that is becoming endangered in the 21st Century like Ladino?

We tend to avoid languages that we cannot figure out how to read, like Russian or Chinese, but

by not studying this sort of music, we are losing valuable culture. In this paper, readers will

learn about the history of Ladino Folk Song and discuss why it is important to perform. Voice

Pedagogy journals will be excerpted to talk about a lack of unique languages to sing in and how

it could possibly be remedied.