Sephardic Jewish Singing with Carol Freeman

with Carol Freeman
Sunday June 8, 2-4 pm

The exquisite singing of Sephardic Jews has its roots in fifteenth century Spain, but is also deeply influenced by the music and vocal styles of the host countries in which the community lived in diaspora for more than five hundred years.

This workshop will focus on Ladino songs and vocal techniques from the Balkans, Greece, and Asia Minor (Turkey.) The songs, some telling tales of royals going back centuries, others expressing the sorrows and joys of ordinary people in everyday life, feature luxuriant melodies, intricate embellishment, uneven rhythms, and microtonal scales.

This workshop will introduce students to the challenging yet really fun vocal techniques and elements of style that are an essential part of Sephardic singing, as it was done by members of the community in earlier times. Participants will learn how to produce the focused yet delicate sound of traditional Sephardic singers, discovering how to find the center of their natural voices, and learning to effortlessly sing with increased comfort, clarity and control.

Participants will learn how to sing intricate ornamentation in both the "ala Turka" vocal style of Turkey and Greece and the "sevdalinka" style of Bosnia. We will learn songs in uneven rhythms and in free meters (no rhythm at all!), and will sing in Turkish microtonal makam. Songs will be taught in detail from original field and vintage commercial 78rpm recordings.

We'll also take a look at how to produce optimal tone quality, and increase vocal strength, stamina, and flexibility, and will learn how to shape a melodic line to effectively communicate a song with superb artistry and depth of expression. Though detailed and precise, the workshop will be conducted in a supportive, relaxed, and fun atmosphere. It is open to singers of all levels, and no prior knowledge of the languages or vocal styles is needed.

 

Well known as a performer, researcher, and teacher of a variety of Balkan, Greek, Judaic, and other singing traditions, Carol Freeman has performed since 1970 as vocalist for The Smyrneiki Kompania, Sevda Balkan Music Ensemble, Song of the Shtetl, Village Voices, and Zhenska Pesna, and as a solo interpreter of traditional song, and has appeared at major arts centers, festivals, museums, and universities, and on radio and television, throughout North America. A master vocal instructor, Carol Freeman has taught extensively as a private instructor and at specialized arts schools, music seminars, universities, and museums for five decades. She is a 2023, 2024, and 2025 New York State Council on the Arts Master of Folk Arts.