Last night, I went out with my mama to see Yasmin Levy sing her “ladino not latino” sephardic music.  I was surprised to enjoy it… Unusual for me, I had expected the worst:  a dreadlocked Israeli raver who had picked up duende on a two week Israeli bus tour through Andalucia.

Israeli ravers

But actually, Yasmin Levy wasn’t like that.  She had a sharp sense of humor about her own music.  And we all know that Jews love self-deprecation, so the crowd composed of mostly Jewish women and their yarmulked companions was appreciative.  And her music was unique, not attempting to be flamenco, but clearly using the influences in what I opine to be an unaffected way.  Not that the music was great, but that it was an honest attempt at something interesting by people who are not relying on cheap musical or performing tricks, which I couldn’t help but remembering is a rare experience to witness.

My mom and I both agreed that she “overdid it” except on the very last song, the encore she requested we give her, which was understated and very good.   They would do well to unironically reduce the reverb on her microphone so her perfectly fine singing sounds less “world music”-ish.  She also clearly can’t dance, besides a forlorn look she tends to give the audience over her bared right shoulder, which is endearing.  She has a very strong, rich voice that of course is necessary for both the spanish and turkik musics from which ladino draws material.

I don’t think the online videos or recorded music represent the experience well, but here she is singing to my favorite Kurd pop singer, Ibrahim Tatslises, sitting on a couch with a random hot blonde woman.

She is no La Paquera de Jerez, but you can’t hold that against anybody. There will only ever have been one La Paquera de Jerez. And while her guitarist was good, he was no Parrilla. But he wasn’t trying to be, so it’s ok.

She’s also nothing like Ibrahim Tatslises.  But aren’t there enough mustachioed men in Izmir?

And who is Ibrahim Tatslises compared to Ataturk anyway?

Ataturk = big. Other people = little.