We sing your music here from over there, a concert at the Old Town School of Music
Out comes the singer and her group. Large black eyes. Flowing black hair. One musician behind her is from Ghana and another from Armenia and two, like her, from Israel. She embraces the audience with her eyes, the band begins and it’s not her I hear first, but an older man on the end of the aisle.
He begins every chorus a few words before she does. Every line just as she sings it in Spanish or Ladino, the language created by Jews expelled from Spain in the 15th century and then sculpted over the centuries and landscapes crossed to keep the language and their memories of it alive. It is a stew of flamenco and Middle Eastern sounds. I hear the Middle Eastern better than anything else.
The man at the end of the row in a baseball cap and worn fall jacket and a few days old beard seems to know every word. The folks in front shush him and so he stops singing, and I wonder. What do these words mean to him? Where did he learn these languages? What is it like sitting here in dark in Chicago in a crowded but small theater listening to words and music that must transport him so very far away.
It reminds me why Chicago is a place of strangers who have found a new home. Listen to my interview with Yasmin Levy to understand more about her music. And listen for the interview and more music on Chicago Is the World at 88.5 fm.
esteban
Breathing life into hidden culture through language and voice: An interview with Yasmin Levy | Chicago is the World Radio
November 11, 2009 at 2:19 pm
[...] Listen to the complete unedited interview on the Chicago is the World Blog [...]
Chicago is the World » Breathing life into hidden culture through language and voice: An interview with Yasmin Levy
October 7, 2010 at 2:31 pm
[...] Listen to the complete unedited interview on the Chicago is the World Blog [...]