Ladino Folk Music & Song with The Elias Ladino Ensemble

Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission and the Folklife Program for New Jersey present
Sunday, January 5, 2014 • 3:00 pm Township of Monroe Senior Center 12 Halsey Reed Road • Monroe Township, NJ 08831
FREE OF CHARGE
Ladino Folk Music & Song with The Elias Ladino Ensemble

Funded by

Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, New Jersey State Council on the Arts

Sunday, January 5, 2014 • 3:00 pm

Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission
703 Jersey Avenue New Brunswick, NJ 08901-3605
http://co.middlesex.nj.us/culturalheritage – culturalandheritage@co.middlesex.nj.us

Ladino Folk Music & Song with The Elias Ladino Ensemble

Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Ronald G. Rios, Freeholder Director Blanquita B. Valenti, Freeholder Deputy Director Charles E. Tomaro, Freeholder Liaison to the Commission Kenneth Armwood, Freeholder Carol Barrett Bellante, Freeholder Charles Kenny, Freeholder H. James Polos, Freeholder John A. Pulomena, County Administrator Kathaleen R. Shaw, Department Head Business Development & Education

Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission and the Folklife Program for New Jersey present the musical traditions of the Sephardic culture. The Elias Ladino Ensemble will present sung narratives filled with memories and recollections steeped in age-old Judeo-Spanish cultural and oral traditions. They are sung for celebratory and ceremonial purposes, as well as to commemorate the events of everyday life.
Ensemble founding member, Daniel Elias, grew up in a household of music sung by his father, Joe Elias and grandfather, Rabbi Elias Cassorla. Joe Elias had strong ties to his Sephardic roots. He was passing on these treasured songs to his son, Daniel, who has been carrying on the traditions of his ancestors and performing in public since the age of fifteen.
Daniel states, “We learned these songs from within the Sephardic community, so we understand the connection that they had to everyday life. Many of the songs date back to ancient Spain, while others reveal melodies and rhythms of the Balkan and Middle Eastern communities where we lived in exile. In our hands, the music remains as vibrant as the community once was.” The Ensemble was
Sunday, January 5, 2014 • 3:00 pm invited by the Spanish government in 1991, to tour Spain playing Ladino music in recognition of the 500th Anniversary of the expulsion of the Sephardic society from Spain.
Mr. Elias will be accompanied by master musician, Maurice Sedacca. Mr. Sedacca, is also a founding member of the Ensemble. He was taught the songs of this distinctive culture by his mother, Esther Sedacca. He learned to play the oud, a pear shaped stringed instrument which predates the guitar, from his grandfather, Haim Azar.