Mara Aranda’s New Album on Sephardic Music in Bulgaria Tops Iberian Roots Music Chart

Spanish singer and researcher Mara Aranda has topped LIMúR, the Iberian Roots Music Chart, for the first quarter of 2025 with Sefarad en el Corazón de Bulgaria. Notably, this is the fourth installment in her musical series dedicated to the Sephardic Jewish diaspora. This pentalogy explores key regions where Sephardic communities settled after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492.

In this volume, Aranda focuses on Bulgaria, drawing from rare and often unpublished recordings preserved in the sound archives of the National Library of Jerusalem. Her aim is to recover and revitalize a musical repertoire that has faced centuries of neglect and fragmentation.

Sephardic music, historically transmitted by women through lullabies, romances, proverbs, and sacred songs, forms the backbone of the album.

Earlier releases in the series include Sefarad en el Corazón De Marruecos (2016), Sefarad en el Corazón de Turquía (2019) and Sefarad en el Corazón de Grecia (2023).

LIMúR Chart Q1 2025

1. Mara Aranda – Sefarad en el corazón de Bulgaria – Mara Aranda
2. El Pantorrillas – Palomo cojo – Caldo de Pésoles C.E.T.
3. Omiri – Modas novas e algumas velhas – Repasseado
4. Melón Jiménez & Lara Wong – Confluencias: New flamenco routes – Scatcat Music
5. Al Andaluz Project – The songs of Iman Kandoussi: Traditional Arabic Andalusian – Galileo Music Communication
6. Libérica / Manel Fortià – Alé: Iberian chants – Segell Microscopi
7. Besaide – Hirusta – Besaide
8. Fado Inverso – Avenida da Liberdade – Fado Inverso
9. Andrés Belmonte – Gharbí – Segell Microscopi
10. Maria João – Abundância – Galileo Music Communication
11. Farnaz Ohadi – Breath / Aliento – Air Music
12. Los Hermanos Cubero – Cubero bueno, Cubero malo – Los Hermanos Cubero
13. Tarta Relena – És pregunta – Latency
14. Xaloq – Quan veja que ja no cante – Temps Records
15. Luis Giménez Amorós – Refugees – KRB

LIMúR honors and promotes top-tier recordings of Iberian root music through quarterly and annual charts. Its selections are curated by a panel of respected experts from across the Iberian world and beyond.

More about LIMúR: https://www.limur.eu