2010-06-06 Washington Folk Festival - Flory Jagoda Sephardic Songs from Bosnia_0028!!.AVI

Description from Washington Folk Festival Program Guide
Performers:
Susan Gaeta
Flory Jagoda (not able to make performance)
Margie Jervis
Alan Oresky
Larry Robinson
Joanna Stefanik
Flory sings the songs her grandmother taught her in her native Sarajevo, Bosnia. As she
sings in Ladino, the language of Sephardic Jews, we learn of a life that is no more. We
treasure Flory for keeping the songs alive and passing them on. Indeed, she is a NEA National
Heritage Fellow as well as a Wammie winner, treasured by all. Her "Ocho Candelitas"
Hanukkah song has been performed by US military bands at holiday concerts, becoming part
of our new holiday tradition. Under the auspicies of the Folk Life Apprenticeship Program of
the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, she is passing her Sephardic repertoire on to
Susan Gaeta. She has recently been approached by a group of women in her neighborhood,
Las Tias ( the aunts), who want to help her carry on her work, and she's mentoring them,
too.
Flory Jagoda - Singer composer Flory Jagoda maintains one of Judaism's richest cultural
traditions through her performances of authentic, as well as original compositions, of
Sephardic songs. These songs serve as a lyrical history of the Sephardim, the Spanish and
Portuguese Jews who fled the Iberian Peninsula as a result of the Inquisition beginning in
1492. Many of these exiles settled in the Ottoman Empire, including the former Yugoslavia
where they and their descendents continued to practice and teach their children the
traditions, language and culture they had brought with them.
Ms. Jagoda was born into the musical Altaras family in Sarajevo, Bosnia and learned many
of the songs from her Nona (grandmother). She is internationally known as the Keeper of the
Flame for her steadfast commitment to continuing her family's musical heritage. Flory was
honored with an NEA National Heritage Fellowship in September 2002 and served as a
Master Artist in the Folklife Apprenticeship Program at the Virginia Foundation for the
Humanities. In March 2003 she was the soloist performer in a ceremony at Auschwitz,
Poland commemorating the Sephardim who perished there during the Holocaust. She is also
the proud recipient of the 2003 Immigrant Achievement Award.
Flory's music is circulated through 4 recordings (and a 5th with Ramon Tasat) and in The
Flory Jagoda Songbook. A documentary about her life, The Key From Spain, has been
featured in national and international film festivals.
Susan Gaeta is a vocalist and guitarist. For 8 years she performed jazz and both American
and Argentine folk music in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Susan now performs nationally as a
soloist, as well as a guest accompanist for Flory Jagoda. Susan also received a grant from the
Foundation to record a CD tracing the evolution of the authentic a cappella women's
Sephardic vocal tradition that Flory learned from her grandmother (Nona), to Susan's
interpretation of Flory's more contemporary compositions.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Washington
• Folk
• Festival
• Sephardic
• Songs
• from
• Bosnia