Lily Henley – Oras Dezaoradas (Lior Éditions, 2022)
“Oras Dezaoradas” presents Sephardic Jewish ballads beautifully performed with new arrangements and melodies by American vocalist, fiddler, songwriter, and composer Lily Henley. Although Henley is best known for making American roots music, she became interested in making a Sephardic music album highlighting the Ladino language, am endangered tongue rooted in ancient Spanish.
Although other artists in Israel, Spain and other countries have been making Sephardic music, their recordings tend to incorporate Spanish flamenco, North African and Middle Eastern. On the other hand, Lily Henley adds a new vision to the Sephardic songbook by incorporating deep-rooted American roots sounds, such as stringband music, bluegrass, old time and folk.
Sephardic music refers to the songs carried by Spanish Jews that were expelled from Spain in the late 1400s. These communities settled along the Mediterranean, in North Africa, Southern Europe and what is current day Turkey. Interestingly, the Spanish Parliament approved in 2015 a bill that grants Spanish citizenship to descendants of Jews expelled between 1492 and 1498.
In addition to ancient ballads, Henley composed three new songs. “There are so few young musicians in this song tradition,” Henley describes, “and, to me, doing an album of the old melodies, re-recording what people have already recorded, didn’t make me excited. This feels inspiring because I’m creating music that feels really authentic and original to me, and I’m adding to this tradition that is very endangered.”
“Oras Dezaoradas” was recorded in France. Henley was invited by François Azar, a Sephardic community leader and owner of record label Lior Éditions. Henly was joined by American multi-instrumentalist Duncan Wickel and Israeli bassist Haggai Cohen Milo (himself half Sephardic). “We recorded Oras Dezaoradas in Montreuil, outside Paris, at this beautiful studio,” Henley reveals. “It was very special because François was there, another person who could really understand these lyrics and this culture. He was sitting in the control room, helping keep the emotion of the music centered around these stories.”
The lineup includes Lily Henley on vocals, violin and guitars; Duncan Wickel on vocals, cello, guitars, violin, mandolin, and piano; and Haggai Cohen Milo on double bass.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.