Yasmin Levy

Artist Information

Biography

BIOGRAPHY / WEBSITES / YOUTUBE VIDEO LINKS

The Ladino singer was born Yasmin Levy in Bakaa, Jerusalem, Israel, on 23 December 1975. A “very small, beautiful neighbour-hood”, Bakaa is filled with narrow alleys and warrens dating back many hundreds of years. The area is still a vital part of the history of this great city and, for Yasmin, her roots. Whenever she has time off, she loves to return to Jerusalem and spend time with her mother, brothers, sister and their families.

Yasmin’s musical interests began as a child. At six years of age, she was taught to play piano and she continued with her studies until age eighteen. At twenty, she began singing seriously but it wasn’t until a year later that she made her first public performance as a guest in a concert given by her mother. Other local concerts followed but it wasn’t until WOMEX 2002 that she made her international début and embarked on a singing career.

Her first album Romance And Yasmin (Connecting Cultures) focused on Ladino music and Turkish influences and was greatly influenced by the work of her late father Yitzhak Levy. Born in Turkey in 1919, he worked as both a composer and cantor. After the creation of the State of Israel, Yitzhak was appointed head of the Ladino department at Israel's national radio station. His life's work was devoted to the collection and preservation of the songs of Sephardic Jews: these songs had been passed down orally from generation to generation over a period in excess of 500 years. During his lifetime he published 4 books containing Sephardic romances and another 10 volumes of liturgical songs. He also recorded many of these same songs for the national radio. Sadly, Yitzhak Levy passed away when Yasmin was little over one year old. Nevertheless she grew up knowing her father's love for this music and his heritage as he had also taught her mother Kochava the Sephardic repertoire and she, in turn, passed the songs on to their daughter. When Yasmin was preparing her first disc Romance And Yasmin, she was she says “helped enormously by the books and recordings my father left behind”.

For her second album, the highly acclaimed La Juderia (Adama Music), Yasmin continued her work within the Ladino tradition but began to experiment more with the flamenco influences that date back to her residence in Spain during 2002. In that year, she was awarded a scholarship by the Christina Herren Foundation to study flamenco in Seville. There she was influenced strongly by the unique singing style that she then added to her own Sephardic one.
With her third album Mano Suave (World Village / Harmonia Mundi), released in October 2007, Yasmin embarked on a mature reinvestigation of her Ladino roots. Recorded in London's Livingston Studios in February 2007, it had Lucy Duran and Jerry Boys co-producing. Continuing Yasmin’s tradition of using the best musicians available, this album featured players from Iran, Armenia, Greece, Paraguay, Israel, Turkey and Spain. Mano Suave also featured a very moving duet with guest vocalist Natacha Atlas on the title track, which is a Beduin song in which Natacha’s Arabic interwove stunningly with Yasmin’s Spanish vocals.

A new (fourth) album Sentir (World Village / Harmonia Mundi) was released on 5 October 2009. With it Yasmin has finally honed a musical vision that integrates effortlessly all of her previous musical preoccupations with fresh, new directions. With Sentir, Yasmin’s music truly becomes ’of the world’. Produced by the acclaimed Javier Limón (who has worked previously with the likes of Portuguese fado star Mariza), the new album’s programme draws songs not only from Ladino (’Mi Korason’, ’Londje de Mi’) and flamenco (Javier Limón’s ’Nos Llego El Final’) traditions but also contemporary material (by Javier, Yasmin) and even Leonard Cohen (in a remarkable and fresh version of ’Hallelujah’).

As mentioned earlier, an important factor in Yasmin’s life and musical direction has been the legacy of her father Yitzhak Levy, who died when Yasmin was only one year old. Sentir’s ’Una Pastora’ allows Yasmin, by the miracle of modern technology, to duet with him. As she says ”This is one of the most beautiful songs my father ever recorded…His singing is something holy for me and I was afraid to touch it… until I realised that it was my own fears I needed to overcome.”

Yasmin’s deep, spiritual singing, passionate vocal delivery and striking good looks continue to entrance fans new and old. She has thrice been nominated for BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards and her appearance on BBC 2 TV’s Later…With Jools in November 2005 was one of the highlights of that particular series. More recently she has appeared on Holland’s acclaimed Vrije Geluiden television programme as well as featuring on television and radio in countries as diverse as Australia, Germany, Israel, Sweden, Spain, Austria, and on the popular Turkish television programme Ibo Show in July 2008. In January of this year she was featured in France’s Concert FIP, a prestigious live radio series devoted to exposing the talents of artists from all over the World.

Yasmin’s touring activities have already taken her to many parts of the globe. In 2008 and 2009, she toured Australia (culminating in a sold-out performance at the prestigious Sydney Opera House on March 1 2008), Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, Holland, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Montenegro and a sold out concert at Israel’s National Opera House in Tel Aviv. She has appeared at WOMAD Festivals in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, UK and Canary Islands as well as at New York’s Carnegie Hall amongst many others. 2009 also saw Yasmin at the Royal Opera House, London in July and making her début national tour of the United States with concerts in October and November.

In October 2008, Yasmin was nominated for Holland’s prestigious Edison Award, the Dutch equivalent of the Grammys, in the category Best World Music Album. This nomination confirms the very positive acceptance of her most recent release at both a critical and commercial level with the album having charted in the Top 30 of the main retail charts. Mano Suave also charted in the Top 10 of Sweden’s mainstream pop music charts and has performed extremely well across Europe as well as in Australia and Israel.

In December 2008 Yasmin won the USA Songwriting Competition in the category Best Song (World) for her composition “Me Voy” (”I’m Leaving”).

Some months earlier, in September 2008, she was named Goodwill Ambassador for Children of Peace, a UK-based charity fighting to alleviate the plight of all children caught up in the decades-old Middle East crisis. As part of this role, Yasmin has committed to giving at least two workshops a year to Middle Eastern children from all sides of the conflict, talking about her career and trying to imbue these children with the hope that through music they may still live their dreams.

In March 2006, Yasmin was presented with the Anna Lindh Award for promoting cross-cultural dialogue, for her work with musicians covering three cultures and her connection with the history of Spain. The award reflects many of her hopes for the future. On a musical level, these have been distilled into the music and songs on her penultimate album Mano Suave and, perhaps even more so, on the new album Sentir. On a more global scale, Yasmin simply desires “that people will have more compassion towards each other and learn to live in harmony”.

About Ladino:
For those new to the music and its language and history, Ladino is the collective term for the Judeo-Spanish languages spoken by the Jews of Spain: these languages infuse the original ancient Spanish with other languages including Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Slavic languages, Portuguese, French, Italian and Hebrew. The geographical spread of communities in North Africa, Turkey, Greece and the Balkans, each with distinct dialects and religious customs, is reflected in the musical variety of Judeo-Spanish folk songs carried down to the present day. UNESCO has recently recognised Ladino as one of the world’s endangered languages as they estimate there are fewer than 200,000 Ladino speakers world-wide.


www.yasminlevy.net
www.myspace.com/yasminlevy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnNFe-iQLgg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kFhqS1yMuI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rmK99BZsKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o55EljQWv14

Instrumentation

Yasmin Levy : vocals
Vardan Hovanissian : flute (duduk), clarinet
Tim Fairhall : electric upright bass
Cuffy Cuthbertson : lead guitar
Nikhi Mukhi : mandolin, second guitar
Ishay Amir : cajon, cymbals, shaker (percussion)

Discography

Sentir (World Village/Harmonia Mundi)
Mano Suave (World Village/Harmonia Mundi)
La Juderia (Adama Music)
Romance And Yasmin (Adama Music)

Links

• MySpace
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube

Audio

• El Amor Contigo
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• Porque
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• Una Pastora
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• La Hija de Juan Simon
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• Jaco
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Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• San Francisco Examiner (Oct 2009) (USA) [+ Show ]
  

  “Levy’s haunting voice, filled with the heart and passion of a people who have survived centuries of...“Levy’s haunting voice, filled with the heart and passion of a people who have survived centuries of persecution and misunderstanding, is certain to attract a huge following. Take advantage of the opportunity to hear her now, before she becomes idolized in the manner of Cesaria Evora and other great artists whose voices seem to sing directly from their soul.” Jason Serinius

• Columbus Dispatch (Nov 2009) (USA) [+ Show ]
  

  “Stunning in appearance and bearing, the singer performs in a throaty style that recalls the mid-20t...“Stunning in appearance and bearing, the singer performs in a throaty style that recalls the mid-20th century French singer Edith Piaf. Levy’s voice and manner have a similar directness and emotionalism and the vocal quality is also reminiscent of that iconic performer.” – Barbara Zuck, Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, OH), Nov 13, 2009

• Sunday Times (Oct 2009) (UK) [+ Show ]
  

  “Her magical album, Sentir, is her most mesmerising accomplishment so far, and will surely find a pl...“Her magical album, Sentir, is her most mesmerising accomplishment so far, and will surely find a place on many a “record of the year” list in the coming months.” – Clive Davis, Sunday Times (UK), 4 Oct 2009

• Songlines (Nov-Dec 2009) (UK) [+ Show ]
  

  “She uses every colour and pitch in her remarkable range and the resulting vocal pyrotechnics are un...“She uses every colour and pitch in her remarkable range and the resulting vocal pyrotechnics are unforgettable.” – Dennis Marks, Songlines (UK), Nov-Dec 2009

• KRUV-FM, Vermont (Nov 2009) (USA) [+ Show ]
  

  “Yasmin Levy is a remarkable talent. Aside from the amazing pedigree of the music, her singing is p...“Yasmin Levy is a remarkable talent. Aside from the amazing pedigree of the music, her singing is profoundly emotional and can move one to tears.” – Jeff Pascoe, Intl Music Director, KRUV-FM, Burlington, VT

• The Guardian (Oct 2009) (UK) [+ Show ]
  

  “...a young Israeli singer with an exquisite and passionate vocal style and a bravely original music...“...a young Israeli singer with an exquisite and passionate vocal style and a bravely original musical mission... Her voice is as fine and powerful as ever, especially on her gutsy duet with the Greek singer Eleni Vitaly on the flamenco-tinged Porque, and on an exquisite treatment of the Ladino ballad Una Pastora...” -Robin Denselow, Guardian (UK), 2 Oct 2009

• The Daily Planet (St Paul) (Nov 09) (USA) [+ Show ]
  

  “Levy is a vocal force with an undeniable stage presence. The audience loved her and a single note ...“Levy is a vocal force with an undeniable stage presence. The audience loved her and a single note could bring tears to your eyes...Levy’s concert was a musical experience I was glad to get swept up in.” - Melissa Slachetka, Daily Planet, St. Paul, MN, Nov 1, 2009

• Art Seen (Michigan) (Nov 09) (USA) [+ Show ]
  

  “Yasmin Levy, dressed in black and the ever enticing enchantress, cast a spell on the audience...She...“Yasmin Levy, dressed in black and the ever enticing enchantress, cast a spell on the audience...She is a brilliantly talented singer with a deep soulful and sensuous voice. It just doesn’t get better than that. Period.”– Krithika, Art Seen (Ann Arbor, MI), Nov 15, 2009

• Dagens Nyheter (Feb 2010) (Sweden) [+ Show ]
  

  “It is undeniably the Israeli singer’s way of explaining her music that makes her so captivating on ...“It is undeniably the Israeli singer’s way of explaining her music that makes her so captivating on stage...In world music she has found her own niche and has no competition...Yasmin Levy is perhaps at her best when she sings her own compositions, somewhere on the border between tradition and Edith Piaf chansons.” – Johanna Paulsson, Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm (Sweden), 17 Feb 2010

• The Other Paper (Ohio) (Nov 2009) (USA) [+ Show ]
  

  “...she conveyed an intensity as real as romantic suicide. Romeo and Juliet have got nothing on Yasm...“...she conveyed an intensity as real as romantic suicide. Romeo and Juliet have got nothing on Yasmin Levy and the narratives of her songs. I think she could sing Streisand; but could Streisand sing Sephardic?” – John Petric, The Other Paper (Columbus, OH), Nov 11, 2009

Setlist

1. Mi Korason
2. Nos Llego el Final
3. Irme Kero
4. Londje de Mi
5. Porque
6. Una Noche Mas
7. Hallelujah
8. Una Pastora
9. Juan Simon
10. Naci En Alamo (Vengo)
11. El Amor Contigo
12. La Alegria
13. Jaco
---------------------------
14. Porque
15. Adio Kerida
16. Me Voy

Basic Requirements

Calendar