Sarah Aroeste
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Sarah Aroeste

alford, Massachusetts, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2001 | SELF

alford, Massachusetts, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2001
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Press


"RootsWorld"

Give Aroeste high marks for boldness and daring to be different... the [tracks] that combine aggressive drive with sweeter textures that are well served by Aroeste’s girlish voice (“Ensuenyo Te Vi,” “Las Estreyas”) are sincerely absorbing. - See more at: http://www.saraharoeste.com/press#sthash.4gMUcQq5.dpuf - Tom Orr


"The Washington Examiner"

Aroeste has three albums to her name. The first two were filled with traditional Sephardic standards, but her latest, "Gracia" (2012), features a number of original compositions. She ably blends rock, jazz and pop elements into her work.... "I just think it's so important for us to know where we come from, especially in this hyperglobalized world," Aroeste said. "I think people really do want to connect with their histories, with their past. Ladino is my way to do that." - Robert Fulton


"WorldBeatCanada"

Sarah Aroeste [is] a Manhattan-based contemporary artist who sings in Ladino, the common name given to Judaeo-Spanish which is rarely heard these days. Aroeste takes the language and the music still further on her third album, ‘Gracia’. You’re welcome. - Cal Koat


"SoundRoots"

Aroeste's "Gracia" named one of Top-10 Global CD's of 2012. - Scott Stevens


"NPR"

Latin music that breaks barriers and pushes boundaries. An episode of NPR's Alt.Latino that explores several cutting edge Latin artists, including Sarah Aroeste, who are "united by commitment to inventiveness and unmistakable soul." - Felix Contreras


"The Forward"

[The] conflict between history and the now is dramatically enacted in Sarah Aroeste’s music. Not only does Aroeste labor in an idiom that dates back to the 15th century, but she does so for an audience that doesn’t even speak the language.....[Gracia] is the strongest case around for the ongoing relevance of Ladino music. - Mordecai Shinefield


"World Music Central"

On Gracia, the classically trained Sarah Aroeste is joined by musicians from the USA, Israel, Morocco, Spain, Uruguay, Colombia and Russia. Together, they give new life to traditional wedding songs, love ballads, and also contribute new original material...Highlights of the album include the Flamenco and Middle Eastern-infused fusion piece ‘Scalerica de Oro/Dodi Yarad’, the dreamy ‘Tu Portret’, the passionate ‘El Leon Ferido’ and the global electronica dance grooves of ‘Scalerica de Oro (DMD Remix)’... With Gracia, Sarah Aroeste injects fresh new sounds into the ancient Ladino music. - Angel Romero


"NPR, Morning Edition"

NPR's Renee Montagne talks to two experts, including Sarah Aroeste, about the past and future of Ladino, the 500-year-old language of Sephardic Jews.

Click here to listen:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1554187
- Renee Montagne


"The Forward"

Making Ladino New Again

One of the more interesting developments in modern Jewish music is the emergence of a handful of bands that meld raucous New York rock and Putumayo-friendly world music. The Sarah Aroeste Band, a five-member group focused on the Judeo-Spanish music of the Ladino-speaking Diaspora, has become one of the scene's pillars....

The band's sophomore album, "Puertas," is an argument about Ladino music's future. Updating Sephardic sounds and Mediterranean melodies with rock flourishes, the group gives "Puertas" a low-fi garage vibe. The marriage of Ladino lyrics to this modern sensibility drives the album forward - showing that the past can not only infiltrate, but also add meaning to the present....That tension is the heart and soul of her thrilling new album. - Mordecai Shinefield


"Remezcla"

We thought Ladino, the Castillian Spanish & Hebrew hybrid, was near to a dead language and then artist Sarah Aroeste appears and it’s alive again, very alive. Aroeste has been writing and singing in Ladino for the past 10 years, which is quite a feat for the young songstress... [H]er third album, Gracia—a mesmerizing mix of feminist, experimental and Mediterranean-infused original Ladino songs.
- Editor's Pick


"Splinters & Candy"

[Sarah Aroeste] has spent a decade expanding upon contemporary Ladino music. Classically trained and pop-savy, Sarah mixes flamenco and pan-Mediterranean melodies on her new record. Her emphatic vocals are backed by strings and guitars in a well produced set. Listen to the fiery passion in “Gracia,” the title track from the album...and get your hands on a copy of Gracia today. - Editor's Pick


"Angelica Music"

Few albums take risks as successfully as on Gracia, and Sarah was successful with both her purposes, making an album as a spokeswoman for the minority woman unafraid to do what she feels is right, and to combine a million influences into a cohesive album. If you’re into world music with the New York flare, Sarah Aroeste is for you. - John Powell


"Incognito Music Magazine"

It is hard to go further off of any beaten path than with Sarah Aroeste. Not that her music is something you’ve never heard before. It is different, but it falls pretty easily into the pop/rock category. What makes this artist rare is that she sings a Judeo-Spanish language called Ladino. And her voice is really something. - Editor's Pick


"Arte y Vida Chicago"

If the unique qualities of Ladino culture and music ever find an audience beyond scholars and traditionalists, it might be because of artists like Sarah Aroeste. Like some unlikely cross between Yasmin Levy and Alanis Morissette, the American born Aroeste finds deeply personal meaning and not a small amount of catharsis in these ancient songs. Ladino’s roots are in pre-1492, pre-Castilian Spain, but took on characteristics typical of a Diaspora when Spanish Jews were scattered across the globe. Musically, this means that you can hear traces of Middle Eastern, Italian, Greek, South American, and other sounds as well as those of Spain. On her new release, Gracia, Aroeste examines lyrics that are quite relevant to the modern world. She has fit these old tales and a handful of originals into an explicitly feminist framework to tell stories of strong women making their way through the world, expressing desire, longing, loss, sensuality and triumph. Her musical approach is contemporary and eclectic, occasionally reminiscent of those hard rock/hip hop hybrids from a decade ago. More often, though, she and co-producer Shai Bachar inject a more subtle and welcome edginess into the proceedings, accenting the natural melodic power of the songs. And if there is any justice in the world, the remix of Scalerica will soon be a global dance floor smash. - Don Macica


"NY Daily News"

Keeping Ladino Music Alive
Tuesday, November 11th 2008

When Sarah Aroeste was growing up in Princeton, N.J., she could sense her family was different from the other Jewish families, but did not know exactly why.

“I remember once visiting my great uncles in Palm Beach and I thought it was so weird. ... all of their radio stations were set to Spanish ones,� Aroeste, 32, says. “That is when I started asking questions.�

What Aroeste discovered was that unlike most of the Jews she knew, her roots traced back to medieval Spain, from which families like hers, known as Sephardic, inherited the language Ladino.

Aroeste, who lives in the upper West Side, has dedicated herself to keeping Ladino music alive and building bridges with non-Jewish Latino musicians.

She is currently working on her third album with Cuban drummer and arranger Roberto Rodríguez which she says will be a reinterpretation of both Cuban and Ladino folk songs.

“We want to bring [Sephardic music] outside of the Jewish world,� she says, “and to a bigger audience.�

Aroeste, who originally studied opera, already began this work in her first two albums, in a style she calls “Ladino rock.�

In her debut CD in 2003, “A la Una: In the Beginning,� along with the follow-up “Puertas,� she focused on updating centuries-old songs in Ladino — based on medieval Spanish and written in Hebrew script — which tend to be about secular themes like love and displacement.

Following a recently wrapped up tour around the Balkans, Aroeste will be performing next Wednesday with other musicians at the Center for Jewish History in Chelsea and Thursday at The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan in the upper West Side.

She will have a solo concert Dec. 21 at the fourth annual Sephardic Music Festival at Le Poisson Rouge in the West Village.

A year and a half ago she met Rodríguez, 47. Though not Jewish himself, he was introduced to Jewish music when his family moved to Miami from Cuba when he was a child.

His most recent album from 2004, “Baila! Gitano Baila!� fuses Afro-Cuban rhythms and the Eastern-European Jewish sound known as klezmer. For the joint album with Aroeste, Rodríguez will be taking on the Sephardic sounds.

Asked about the possibilities of their music connecting New York’s Latino and Jewish communities, Rodríguez, who lives upstate, responded with an oft-heard phrase these days: “Yes we can!�

Two months ago, Aroeste and Rodríguez traveled to Cuba to perform for the Jewish community. During the trip, they decided to begin building a Jewish music library in Havana, for which they are currently fundraising.

“We have very long-term plans for this project,� Aroeste says. “The dream is to one day start a Jewish music festival in Cuba.�
- Elissa Strauss


"Inside World Music"

American-born Ladino singer, Sarah Aroeste, continues to create contemporary rock and pop compositions with a Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Spanish element. The Ladino-language songs touch on Jewish history, love, and relationships amidst a background of symphonic strings, Middle Eastern percussion, and contemporary arrangements... Overall, Sarah hits high marks with a new release of contemporary Sephardic music. - Matt Forss


"WBEZ Chicago Public Radio"

On this week’s Global Notes, [we] take a look at bands that play “retrofitted” music. These groups adapt older music and apply contemporary technology to bring long-standing musical traditions into the 21st century.

Songstress Sarah Aroeste brings a 500-year-old tradition to the present with spoken-word flavored, rock–tinged versions of tunes sung in the ancient Judeo-Spanish language... - Catalina Maria Johnson


"Midwest Record"

When Madonna was doing her kaballah thing, she should have taken a side tour into the world of Ladino music, a kind of feminist protest music of Sephardic Jewish women that is pretty mind blowing as it's fueled by wild women that aren't afraid of being sexy. Aroeste keeps it traditional, brings it into the present and then uses contemporary mash up techniques to keep it pulsating from the streets. Often sounding like an opium/belly dance dream when it's not sounding like the video music channel they play in casual Indian restaurants, this is a mind blowing set that the open eared world beater will play for all their friends and try to make them believers. Hot stuff. - Chris Spector


"KadmusArts"

Ana Maria Harkins interviews Sarah Aroeste in a podcast on contemporary Ladino, feminism and her inspiration for her new album, Dona Gracia. - Ana Maria Harkins


"The Village Voice"

Ethnic eclecticism from a sultry warbler of Greek ancestry...(Shakira eat your heart out!)

- Chuck Eddy


"CDRoots"

A fine and promising debut release [A la Una: In the Beginning] by a young American singer exploring Sephardic music in the modern world. A la una ranges from traditional folk forms to jazz, rock and many of the hyphens in-between.

- Cliff Furnald


"The Chicago Tribune"

Sarah Aroeste's modern spin on a tuneful tradition

When singer Sarah Aroeste was growing up in Princeton, N.J., she felt different from her neighbors for the same reasons as many American Jews. She did not celebrate the popular Christian holidays and her grandparents originally spoke another language. But Aroeste's Sephardic background is also unlike that of most Jews in the United States, and her heritage is the basis of her music.

"This whole part of Jewish culture has really been ignored," Aroeste says from her home in New York. "We have this amazing history and culture and this music is incredible. If only people were exposed to it, they'd love it."

A few years ago, the New York press also took notice of Aroeste's performance style, which includes belly dancing and flirtations with the audience. Fortunately, she is no longer given the geographically dubious title of "The Jewish Shakira."

"When you think of Jewish music, I don't think the first things that come to mind are sexy or sensual," Aroeste says. "But this music is incredibly sensual and the way we present it doesn't shy away from that."

Sephardic Jews trace their ancestry to medieval Spain. After the Jews were expelled in 1492, they moved throughout the Mediterranean and brought their language with them. That language, Ladino, is based on Castilian Spanish and also includes idioms from around the region. Even though Sephardic Jews have lived in this country since the Colonial era, their numbers became diminished in comparison to the later waves of Ashkenazic Jewish immigrants from Germany and eastern Europe.

"We're a minority within a minority," says Rabbi Michael Azose of Evanston's Sephardic Congregation. He estimates that of the 5 million Jews in the U.S., about 200,000 are Sephardic.

Aroeste's grandparents came to the U.S. from Greece, and she says a desire to assimilate made them downplay their origins. So she researched Sephardic culture on her own while she was growing up. She also intensely studied Western classical music, including an opera concentration at Yale. When Aroeste spent time in Israel, she was able to immerse herself in traditional Ladino songs.

"It's normally just a voice and guitar and maybe two other instruments," Aroeste says. "A lot of Ladino music was based on either Spanish folk songs or just outlining their daily experiences. Nothing fancy, very simple. And it's beautiful."

During the late 1990s, Aroeste tried to promote her interests when she worked for the National Foundation for Jewish Culture in New York. But she was disappointed that while there was a revival of Ashkenazic, Yiddish-language klezmer, there was no similar effort on behalf of Sephardic music. So she quit the foundation to start her own group.

The entire Mediterranean had an impact on Ladino music, just like it had on the language. On Aroeste's disc, "A La Una," she highlights the varied sources for Ladino music as her band includes Middle Eastern strings and percussion. Her group also puts its individual stamp on centuries-old songs through Aroeste's extensive vocal training and Alan Cohen's electric guitar. Jazz, reggae, and rumba also infuse the group's interpretations of the Sephardic tradition.

"I wanted to take this traditional music and combine it with the influences that have shaped me," says the 28-year-old singer. "Both in terms of my Sephardic culture, but also in terms of my upbringing in America. The bottom line is that with whatever instrumentation we use, the music has remained for more than 500 years and that really says something."

Aroeste says her onstage persona never detracts from the music.

"If we're presenting the music in a way that maintains its integrity while reaching out to a wider audience, then that's only good for Ladino."



- Aaron Cohen


"LA Jewish Journal"

Aroeste Gives New Life to Ladino Tunes

Purists were skeptical when Sarah Aroeste debuted her Ladino rock 'n' roll band back in 2001. Most artists singing in the fading Sephardic language were traditionalists, performing classical versions of songs dating to the Jews' expulsion from Spain in 1492.

But here was Aroeste, mixing rock and jazz with the flamenco and Middle Eastern-tinged music of her ancestors, singing those same lush romances accompanied by electric guitar as well as oud. And, the New York press noted, she was doing so while performing with a bare midriff and gyrating hips - moves that led several publications to label her "The Jewish Shakira."

During a recent phone interview from her Manhattan apartment, the 28-year-old singer expressed distaste for the "Shakira" label.

"People tend to harp on that, as if I'm being deliberately exploitative," she said with a sigh. "But why shy away from the sensuality that is actually in this culture?"

Yet, when she quit her day job to found the band, "people thought I was nuts," she said. "I mean, a Ladino rock group � who had ever heard of that? So I was charting new territory. I was afraid of the critics, and I struggled to find a balance I hoped would work."

Mission apparently accomplished. Aroeste's 2003 CD, "A La Una - In the Beginning," sold out its initial run and now shares shelf space with CDs by classical Sephardic artists, such as Isabel Ganz. Her band regularly performs not just at nightclubs but at Jewish venues across the United States.

In Los Angeles this week, she played at the Temple Bar, a rock nightclub, and Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel; tonight she'll appear at Sinai Temple's young adult service, Friday Night Live.

Observers have noted her crossover appeal: "I am stunned ... at how successfully Aroeste has succeeded in setting this music in a way that makes it contemporary, without losing the very traditional feel of the music and the music's roots," Ari Davidow wrote in Klezmer Shack magazine. "Until [A La Una], I don't think I could have pointed to a sharp, contemporary, danceable Sephardic music album. Until I heard this particular album, I don't think it would have occurred to me that the category was necessary."

"Sarah has really cornered the market on Ladino rock," said Randee Friedman of Sounds Write Productions Inc., a distributer of her CD. "A lot of Ladino comes across my desk, but it's old-style, and Sarah is really hip. She's reaching out to the younger generation, and I think she's been very successful at that."

If Aroeste has successfully conveyed her enthusiasm for Sephardic music, it's virtually in her blood. She grew up in a "big, fat Jewish Greek family" in Princeton, N.J., where Ladino songs graced the record player and the Shabbat dinner table. The Yale-educated soprano further fell in love with the ancient art form while studying at a Tel Aviv opera summer program eight years ago.

But when she organized a new Jewish music project for the National Foundation for Jewish Culture in 1999, Aroeste grew "frustrated and disappointed" by the dearth of novel Sephardic fare. The klezmer-fusion renaissance was thriving in Ashkenazi circles, courtesy of artists such as Frank London and John Zorn, "but there was nothing Sephardic that I could relate to as a modern, American woman," she said.

"I felt, this music is in danger of disappearing within a generation unless we do something to reach new people," the performer continued. "And that became my mission."

To reach as wide an audience as possible, Aroeste focused her Sephardic fusion on secular, rather than liturgical songs. "The themes are totally universal and contemporary, like bad breakups, blinddating, crushes, long-distance relationships," she said. "In fact, if you walked into one of my shows, you might not even realize it's Jewish music, because it doesn't sound the way most people think of Jewish music, meaning klezmer."

"Yo M'enamori" ("Moon Trick"), for example, is more reminiscent of contemporary rock; Aroeste's trance remix of "Hija Mia" ("The One I Want") sounds practically psychedelic.

Yet all her songs are grounded in the original, ancient melodies and lyrics, which has apparently satisfied would-be critics.

"At first, people wanted to see if I was going to completely change and popularize the music, but they've seen that's not the case," she said. "I've worked hard to maintain the integrity of the music and to use my work to preserve and revitalize the tradition."
- Naomi Pfefferman


"Star Ledger"

Jewish pop pourri

When Spain expelled its Jews half a millennium ago, some took with them a Castilian dialect called Ladino. As those Jews found more welcoming homes along the Mediterranean rim, Ladino became a refugee tongue that clung to its exiled homeland while absorbing bits of Greek, Turkish, Arabic, French, Portuguese and Hebrew, among others. Five hundred years later, Ladino is spoken only in small pockets of the world, mainly Israel, and rarely as a first language.

Except for New York's Sarah Aroeste, who sings Ladino rock 'n' roll.

The raven-haired, belly-baring Aroeste, 29, galvanizes the medieval language with her passionate, exotic vocals and an eclectic mix of modern and traditional instrumentation, from the hand drum called the darbuka to the riqq, a tambourine with a double row of cymbals. During her high-energy performances, Aroeste takes time to explain the meanings of the songs and teach the audiences a little about her Sephardic Jewish background.

"It matters to me that people understand where this music is coming from," says Aroeste, who performs with the four-piece Sarah Aroeste Band on Saturday at Bnai Keshet in Montclair. "At the same time we don't want them to think this is just a language and music that is stuck 500 years ago."

The performance is part of the New Jersey Jewish Music Festival, which runs through Sept. 25 at various venues in Morris and Essex counties.

Aroeste's family landed in Princeton by way of the Greek city of Salonika (now called Thessaloniki), Rochester, N.Y., and Trenton. She grew up in a small, close-knit community of mainly German and Eastern European Jews, and because her Sephardic grandparents wanted to assimilate, she had unanswered questions about her heritage. When she worked at a New York Jewish arts foundation that focused heavily on the emerging renaissance of Eastern European klezmer music, she began to feel the need to preserve the music of her own heritage.

Aroeste (pronounced arro-ESTY), who studied classical singing at Yale University, started playing guitar with a fellow Sephardic Jew a few years ago, eventually teaming up with the musicians who helped her put out her debut release, "A La Una" (titled "In the Beginning" in English).

She recently spent two months in Jerusalem researching Ladino, meeting with linguistic specialists, and introducing her style to the Israeli market, as well as fine-tuning the Sarah Aroeste Band's upcoming album, "Puertas."

"A La Una" invigorates Spanish folk songs about love and loss, some dating to the 15th century, with rock, jazz, blues and funk, among other influences.

"Arvoles (Missing You)" has a languid Caribbean feel. "Yo M'enamori (Moon Trick)" thrums with surf guitar. During "Hija Mia (The One I Want)," the Orient surfaces, the electric guitar fusing with its Middle Eastern cousin, the oud, a short-necked, pear-shaped stringed instrument. Along with the hand drums, the jangling riqq, and the qanun, a zither-like instrument with 81 strings stretched in groups of three, it is electrifying in its own way.

"I wanted to be able to sing this music and to convey it in a way that could really bridge my identity," Aroeste says. "It's simply the way I feel the music, because my context is also an American one, and I don't necessarily feel the music in the traditional style. I feel it with that electric beat, the more oomph. It's how my body and my soul understands and feels the music."
- Vicki Hyman


"The Jerusalem Post"

Jewish Discs review
Puertas

New Yorker Sarah Aroeste founded her eponymous musical project in 2001, shortly after she quit her day job. As part of the staff of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, she had grown frustrated with the organization's unwillingness to support any initiatives that weren't steeped in Ashkenazi tradition.

Therefore, SAB takes traditional Ladino tunes and updates them with loads of New York sass and edgy attitude. "When you think of Jewish music, I don't think the first things that come to mind are sexy or sensual," Aroeste recently told The Chicago Tribune. "But this music is incredibly sensual, and the way we present it doesn't shy away from that."

Also key to the band's identity are the heavy contributions of Yoel Ben-Simhon, also of the Sultana Ensemble, who serves here as musical director, oud player and often arranger.

The band's debut, A la Una, sold well and set the stage for many live performances - including two key appearances at the Sephardic Music Festival - and now the band has released Puertas. Coproduced by Aroeste, Ben-Simhon and the Klezmatics' Frank London, who has been known to appear on stage with the band, the sophomore effort took over a year to record. The title means "doors," a reference to the Spanish Jewish families who took their keys with them when they were exiled back in the 15th century, hoping to need them again some day.

Here, rock styles mix with Sephardi tradition. On "Los Bilbilicos," what starts off sounding like a Shabbat table hymn goes down the rabbit hole and turns into a Floyd-like Hammond and electric guitar jam. "Me Siento Alegre" opens slow and quiet, but it explodes at points into metal-like power chords. Other styles make appearances too, like the understated Arabian classicism of "Avre Tu Puerta," the polyrhythmic "Una Matica De Ruda," the Flamenco guitars of "Shabat" and the regal Spanish horn play on "Si La Mar." There's even a blippy, breaky "Puertas Remix," care of Balkan Beat Box front man Tamir Muskat.


- Ben Jacobson


Discography

A la Una: In the Beginning (2003)
Puertas (2007)
Gracia (2012)
Ora de Despertar (March 2016)

Please see www.saraharoeste.com/music for credits/more info on each album

Photos

Bio

Sarah Aroeste, inspired by her family's Sephardic roots in Spain and Greece, has spent the last 15 years bringing her contemporary style of original and traditional Ladino music to audiences around the world.

Aroeste writes and sings in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish dialect that originated by Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Those who left Spain, including Aroeste's family, carried the medieval language with them to the various points where they later settled, primarily along the Mediterranean coast and North Africa. In time, Ladino came to absorb bits and pieces of languages all along the Mediterranean coast, including some Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Hebrew, and more.

This exotic pan-Mediterranean language has, unfortunately, been fading away. But the continued musical legacy of the Sephardic people highlights the strength of an oral tradition that spans many centuries and geographic boundaries.

American born and trained in classical voice at Westminster Choir College and Yale University, Aroeste became drawn to her Sephardic musical past after spending a summer in 1997 performing at the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv. Since then, Aroeste has worked tirelessly to keep Ladino music alive for a new generation. Her style, whether with her original music or with interpreting Ladino folk repertoire, combines traditional Mediterranean Sephardic sounds with contemporary influences such as rock, pop, and jazz. One of few Ladino artists today who writes her own music, Aroeste performs songs of such universal themes as family dynamics, first-love crushes, unrequited love, loss, searching for home, going off to war, and much more. Together, her songs have brought new life and energy to the beautiful and mysterious sounds of Sephardic music.

In the last decade, Aroeste has amassed a large and loyal following and has performed in major music venues throughout the US and overseas (tours through Europe, Israel and Cuba). She also has collaborated with such notables as Frank London (The Klezmatics), Roberto Rodriguez, Tamir Muskat (Balkan Beat Box), Y-Love and more. In 2008 Aroeste was a finalist in Israel's prestigious Festiladino competition of original Ladino songs and performed her winning song with the Jerusalem Symphony. In recent years, Aroeste has teamed up with composer and producer Shai Bachar (Ishtar Alabina, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Sheila Jordan) to present the multi-media stage production of their release, Gracia.  In 2014, an electronic version of their Gracia project won the Sephardic prize at the International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam, and in 2015 they represented the USA at the International Sephardic Music Festival in Cordoba. Their newest release, Ora de Despertar (Time to Wake Up), the first all-original Ladino children's album, was  released March 2016.

NPR  featured Aroeste as one of the most cutting-edge Latin artists today. Read here: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/20/155432932/latin-music-that-breaks-barriers-and-pushes-boundaries

With her unwavering commitment to Ladino cultural preservation, Sarah Aroeste has received notable attention over the years for her innovation in working to make Ladino music more accessible and exciting to new and larger audiences. Bringing a fresh and inspiring modern sound, Sarah Aroeste's Ladino "Rock" style has helped to transform and revitalize a tradition.

INSTRUMENTATION:

Sarah performs either as a quartet with Sarah Aroeste (vocals), Shai Bachar (piano), Dan Pugach (drums) and Fima Ephron (bass), or as a duo with Sarah Aroeste (vocals) and Shai Bachar (piano, computer). 

There is also an option for a full 9 piece-band (lead vocal, back-up vocals, piano, drums, percussion, bass, guitar, winds).

Band Members