Lily Henley: Sephardic Identity, Ladino Language and Songwriting

The wonderful singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and scholar Lily Henley sings in the endangered language Ladino and during this podcast you’ll hear clips from her album Oras Dezaoradas. Blending her roots in American and Celtic music, Lily creates powerful original music that honours centuries of Sephardic women’s voices. These songs tell timeless stories of love, loss, exile, and resilience, sharing her personal connection to this important tradition.

You’ll also learn about:

• Sephardic history and contemporary communities
• Lily’s unusual childhood
• how she’s learned to trust her voice

Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube channel and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website.

Lily Henley Website

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Catalog of Episodes

(00:00) intro

(01:39) Sephardic culture and history, Ladino language, album Oras Dezaoradas

(11:15) clip of Porke Yorach Blanka Ninya, Paris Ladino mentors Marie-Christine Bornes-Varol, François Azar

(13:41) about Esta Noche Te Amare with clip, Fulbright, Paris Sephardic community

(21:53) how close is Ladino to Spanish, clip of Duermite mi Alma, Susana Weich-Shahak, starting Doctorate at Harvard

(29:44) other linked episodes and ways to support this series

(30:39) balancing academic life and touring

(33:40) Lily’s childhood

(39:11) about Arvoles Yoran Por Luvya with clip, Dunca Wickel

(44:49) first album Words Like Yours

(48:23) Morena Me Yaman clip, identity as singer and multi-instrumentalist

(57:12) why there’s a track of fiddle tunes with clip