Yasmin Levy

Yasmin Levy (Hebrew: יסמין לוי; born 23 December 1975) is an Israeli singer-songwriter recognized for revitalizing Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) music by fusing traditional Sephardic melodies with elements of flamenco, jazz, and Middle Eastern sounds.

Born in Jerusalem to Sephardic Jewish parents—her father, Yitzhak Levy, a leading Ladino scholar and musician who died when she was nine, and her mother, a Holocaust survivor from Bulgaria—Levy was immersed in Ladino culture from childhood, performing initially with her father's ensemble before pursuing a solo career.

Yasmin Levy was born on December 23, 1975, in Jerusalem to Sephardic Jewish parents whose ancestry traces to the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, with the family subsequently settling in Izmir, Turkey. Her father, Yitzhak Levy (1919–1977), was born in Turkey and relocated to Jerusalem at age three with his family amid the Ladino-speaking community there. Yitzhak became a prominent composer, cantor (hazzan), and ethnomusicologist dedicated to documenting Sephardic Ladino music and culture; he served as head of the Ladino department at Israel's National Radio and edited Aki Yerushalayim, a Ladino-language magazine. He died in 1977, when Yasmin was approximately two years old, leaving behind extensive recordings of traditional songs that profoundly shaped her early environment.

Levy's mother, Kohava, also from the Sephardic community in Izmir, played a central role in her upbringing by singing Ladino lullabies and folk songs to her as a child, preserving the oral traditions of their heritage despite the early loss of her father. Raised in Jerusalem amid this immersive Sephardic musical legacy, Levy grew up listening to recordings of her father's fieldwork and the live performances of traditional piyyutim (liturgical poems) that he championed. This household steeped in Judeo-Spanish language and melodies—rooted in the historical migrations of Sephardic Jews from Iberia to the Ottoman Empire—fostered her innate connection to Ladino, though she initially resisted formal musical training as her father had advised against it for his children.

The family's Turkish Sephardic roots underscored a commitment to cultural preservation amid diaspora challenges, with Yitzhak's scholarly efforts countering the decline of Ladino speakers post-World War II and the Holocaust's impact on Sephardic communities. Levy has described this upbringing as one of emotional depth, influenced by the sorrow inherent in many Ladino ballads reflecting historical expulsions and losses, yet vibrant with the resilience of her parents' traditions.