The matriarchal language: Ladino singer Nani Vazana on her rise to fame

The singer was always very close to her grandmother (who nicknamed her Nani), so when she heard the familiar melodies, she decided to learn the language and began writing songs in it, popularizing Ladino music and the traditional sounds of Sephardi Jews. Because of exiles, Jews didn’t have a common language, so I think Ladino became a mishmash of many local languages with Hebrew words and Arabic because of the Moors who lived in the Iberian Peninsula then; there were Turkish words because later the Jews were exiled and found refuge in the Ottoman Empire; later on, also in the Balkans, North Africa, and Greece. I was told that I was not allowed to do many things because I was a girl, and it didn’t sound right to me even when I was a kid.

Author: BY BASIA MONKA

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