| From the 10th to the 15th centuries, Christians, Moors and Jews lived in harmony in the Iberian Peninsula. That period - later to be called "The Golden Age" - favoured an authentic renaissance in arts, literature, sciences, and philosophy. It ended with the Inquisition and the Expulsion Order proclaimed by Spanish royalty in 1492. | The language of the Sephardim (from "Sefarad," the Hebrew name for the Iberian Peninsula) is Ladino - a Judeo-spanish dialect. It amalgamates the area's Jewish and Moorish aspects in its words and imagery. These rich cultures and traditions stand as background for all Sephardic songs, which have flourished wherever the Sephardim have settled (including Greece, Turkey, Morocco, and Bulgaria). These songs are about the changes they have gone through in history, their wandering life, their feasts... their joys and pains. |