The Bride Unfastens Her Braids, The Groom Faints : Ladino Love Songs (1999)

Ladino is the language of the medieval Jews who, after being expelled from Spain in 1492, took these intoxicating songs with them to their new homes in Turkey, North Africa, and the New World. There, the songs evolved into the Sephardic songs that have been recorded in a variety of versions. Etty Ben-Zaken learned them from her Ladino-speaking grandmother, and she sings them with dramatic power and a special sensitivity to the stories they tell. Her voice is imbued with an amber-like richness perfectly suited to the bittersweet poignancy of these love songs. Eitan Steinberg’s subtle arrangements remain faithful to the originals while fusing Middle Eastern idioms with an avant-garde vocabulary. Accompanying these songs with an eclectic ensemble of ancient and ethnic instruments, Steinberg succeeds in what his teacher Luciano Berio called “remembering the future”. (Classicstoday.com)