Preserving the Sephardic Story of Monastir through Music and Dialogue
About
After 20 years of bringing Ladino music of my family to audiences around the globe, I was invited in 2017 to sing in Bitola, N. Macedonia (formerly known as Monastir), the birthplace of my grandfather. I didn't know then how it would change my life. Appearing in Bitola in 2017
Monastir was home to a once-thriving Sephardic population, inhabited by Jews who escaped the Spanish Inquisition and settled in the Ottoman Empire. For over 400 years, they lived in harmony alongside their neighbors. But then WWII wiped out 98% of Monastir's Jews and no Jewish life has existed there since. In subsequent travels there, however, I've witnessed firsthand how Macedonians today have demonstrated respect for a Jewish history now lost.
And so, in early 2020 I launched a project to return that love by bringing together Israeli and Macedonian musicians to record an album of uniquely Macedonian Jewish music.
Over 18 months of research and recording, I worked to find and compose songs that could tell the rich story of Jewish Monastir.
In the end, I brought together over 30 musicians, from 5 countries, who collaborated on 10 beautiful tracks - in 3 different languages (Macedonian, Hebrew and Ladino).
Each song on the album has a special connection to Monastir, either through its lyrics or the musicians who sing them. To learn how I curated each track, along with full lyrics and translations, click here.
But the recording was just Phase 1 of the project's overall mission. I believe that by continuing to create art and encouraging dialogue we can do much more to keep the memory of this community alive.
To learn about my advocacy work over the past few years to preserve Monastirli history, please click here.
In July 2021 I traveled to Macedonia and Israel to begin the process of documenting the album's musicians, and filming stunning videos to accompany some of the tracks.
Later that fall, the project was invited to premiere in festivals across N. Macedonia in summer 2022. It happened! We just returned from concerts in Skopje, Ohrid and Bitola, in which the musicians all came together for the first time. And we caught it all on camera!
Now, for Phase 2, we need funds to edit the documentary footage so we can share more of the Monastir Project with the world. I need to raise $10,000 by end of 2022 to make this happen.
I've made it my personal and professional mission to preserve the story of Monastir. Any contribution will help bring this work forward and reach more people.
