The Judeo-Spanish Ballad Tradition

Abstract

"As the repertoire of an isolated, archaizing minority, which has lived for centuries in contact with Balkan, Near Eastern, and North African cultures, the ballad tradition of the Spanish-speaking Sephardic Jews constitutes one of the most distinctive and interesting branches of the Hispanic romancero. In regard to its archaism, Judeo-Spanish balladry is comparable, perhaps, to that of other Hispanic lateral areas, such as the Portuguese tradition of Trás-os-Montes, the Azores, and Madeira or the Castilian repertoires of León and Zamora Provinces and of the Canary Islands. In a Pan-European perspective, one could compare the Sephardic tradition with that of Iceland and the Faroe Islands; of the German speech-island of Gottschee (Slovenia) and, to a lesser degree, of other, more recently settled "East German" communities; or again with the folksongs of French Canada and Louisiana, or even, perhaps, with certain features of Anglo-American balladry."--Opening paragraph.