Yasmin Levy

Yasmin Levy was born on December 23, 1975, in Baka, Jerusalem.[1] She is of Sephardic Jewish descent. Her parents were immigrants from Turkey. [2]

Her father, Yitzhak Isaac Levy (1919–1977),[3] was a composer and hazzan (cantor), as well as a pioneer researcher into the history of the Ladino music and culture of Spanish Jewry and its diaspora, being the editor of the Ladino language magazine Aki Yerushalayim.[4] He died when Levy was just one year old, but she names him as one of her greatest musical influences.[5]

With her distinctive and emotive style, Levy has brought a new interpretation to the medieval Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) song by incorporating more "modern" sounds of Andalusian flamenco and traditional Turkish music[2] as well as combining instruments like the darbuka, oud, violin, cello, and piano.

Her debut album was Romance & Yasmin, which was followed by her second album La Judería (Spanish: The Jewish Quarter).[6]

On her second album, La Judería, she also covered the popular songs "Gracias a la Vida" by Violeta Parra and "Nací en Álamo" from the film Vengo, directed by Tony Gatlif, which in its original version won the 2001 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film (itself being a cover[7] of "The Song of the Gypsies" (Greek: "Το Τραγούδι των Γύφτων"), written by Greek songwriter Dionysis Tsaknis in 1990)..

Yasmin Levy mixes with the audience at Sept. 2022 concert in Warsaw

In her own words in 2007:[1]

I am proud to combine the two cultures of Ladino and flamenco, while mixing in Middle Eastern influences. I am embarking on a 500-year-old musical journey, taking Ladino to Andalusia and mixing it with flamenco, the style that still bears the musical memories of the old Moorish and Jewish-Spanish world with the sound of the Arab world. In a way it is a ‘musical reconciliation’ of history.

Levy is a goodwill ambassador for the charity Children of Peace.

In 2006, Levy was nominated in the "Culture Crossing" category for the fRoots / BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards.[8]

In 2008, Levy's work earned her the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation Award for promoting cross-cultural dialogue between musicians from three cultures.[9]

The Sunday Times named Sentir as one of the Top 100 albums of 2009, and placed it in their Top 10 World Music releases of the year.[5]

• "Yasmin Levy - Aing like a butterfly". FLY Global Music. February 22, 1999. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007.
• Werman, Marco (March 16, 2011). "Israeli singer Yasmin Levy's flamenco twist" (audio). The World from PRX.