Yasmin Levy, the extraordinary interpreter of Ladino music, is once again back in Ankara with a magnificent performance organised by Altus Arts & Culture on 4th May 2016 at MEB Sura Concert Hall.

Her father, composer and cantor, Yitzhak Levy was born in Turkey in 1919. He worked on collecting and preserving songs of Sephardic Jews. Yasmin herself, grew up in Jerusalem, which has been a meeting point for many different cultures and types of people, embracing and blending different types of music from various cultures –from Turkish versions of Moroccan music to classical, from jazz to religious music thus developed a diverse and unique tone of her own in her songs.

Yasmin Levy thus makes an extraordinary synthesis between her Sephardic and Turkish roots. She creates an astonishing sound experience evoked by the characteristic magic of the flamenco guitar in combination with the rich tones of Turkish string instruments. When complemented by a Cuban guitar, a sound is created which unites all influences and which has marked Yasmin Levy’s unique style. She collaborated with various artists such as Buika, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Enrico Macias, Yiannis Kotsiras, Eleni Vitaly, Natacha Atlas, Montse Kortes, Kubat, Ibrahim Tatlises and Maria Toledo.

“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”.