Aires de Sefarad: 46 Spanish Songs

Born in Buenos Aires, Jorge Liderman is quickly becoming one of the most highly-regarded South American composers of today, with his works being performed worldwide. Though his music is experimental, it is also extremely colorful, with a strong nationalistic undercurrent. Aires de Sefarad (Airs from Spain) is a cycle of 46 songs without words for violin and guitar, and although many of them are love songs, they vary in character and their musical nature. These songs highlight, at the core of their musical structure, unchanged original melodies that were sung in Ladino by the Spanish, or by the Hebrew, Sephardic Jews. After the Spanish Inquisition, a large number of Jews emigrated to Portugal, Tunis, Morocco, Turkey and Israel among other countries. After a 2003 visit to Spain, walking through the Jewish quarter in Cordoba and experiencing the vibrant life of the region, Liderman was inspired to write Aires de Sefarad. As he says, "This work reflects my impressions of past and present Spain in its vast and varied culture."