Variations Ladino

This 6th volume of the collection Musical Heritage of the Jews of France falls within the continuity of the work carried out by the Foundation of French Judaism (FJF) on Sephardic music, an important component of the French Jewish musical heritage today. In the 21st century, rare are musical compositions laying claim to a Judeo-Spanish filiation. This is all the more regrettable when one considers that during the Second World War, the Judeo-Spanish world suffered destruction that eradicated a good part of its traditional practices, notably its repertoires of coplas, romances and cantigas transmitted orally. This is why the Foundation, faithful to its cultural vocation and its ideal of Judaism open to the modernity, has commissioned eight composers/interpreters from various backgrounds to create a new Judeo-Spanish repertoire for the guitar. From the arrangement of traditional Parvaim songs to complexity of pieces by Gil Shohat, this CD, performed by the virtuoso Liat Cohen, embarks us on a musical journey that slowly removes us from the original Jewish-Spanish model and carries us towards a more aestheticizing vision. The acoustic result is savoured as an initiatory journey in which pleasure is paramount.