Ottoman Splendours

On her second album Lebanese-born singer Lamia Yared develops her research into the culture of Sephardis; Jewish populations who were forced to flee Spain after the Reconquista and moved mostly to the east Mediterranean. Their Ladino language was largely unchanged, but in the Ottoman Empire their music was reorganised within the maqam system.

The repertoire on the album features adaptations, created and transmitted by women, of rebetika songs (‘Kouklaki Mou’ into ‘Mi Chika Flor’) and Oriental songs or şarkı (‘Niçin Gördüm Seni’ into ‘Ven Chika Nazlia’). Yared is supported by the brilliant Ensemble Oraciones, arranged by qanun specialist Didem Basar and featuring the kemençe solos of Binnaz Celik, in a fresh look at well-known songs with a few new discoveries.