Let me try to revive this precious topic..
I've been listening to a band for a while now and I can't keep myself from sharing them here. Because they are deeply connected with most people in here.
I'm talking about Janet & Jak Esim Ensemble. This is a band of a couple, Mrs. Janet Esim and Mr. Jak Esim, two Sephardic Jews living in Turkey, and some very brilliant and professional artists. They collected music from all sephardic jews living in Turkey and are trying to revive their music. The songs are in Ladino, which is like a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew, with some French, Greek and Turkish influences. The music varies, from Western European songs to Middle Eastern ballads. I think they released 4 albums, and I strongly recommend the live album "Birkaç Sonsuzluk Anı". "Hamavdil" is my favourite song, guys, you must listen to them! Especially Janet Esim has a magical voice..
Artists in the band:
Jak Esim (Guitar & Vocals)
Janet Esim (Vocals)
Herman Heder (Guitar & Vocals)
Erkan Oğur (Fretless Guitar, Oud)
Bülent Ortaçgil (Guitar)
Nezih Yeşilnil (Contrabass)
Murat Özbey (Percussion)
Yahya Dai (Saxophone)
Probably most Turkish people in here will instantly recognize Erkan Oğur and Bülent Ortaçgil. Ortaçgil is a famous musician with mostly slow and calm songs. And Erkan Oğur... How can I talk about him? I sometimes think that he is a prophet of god, a messenger to show us the true spirit of music. He was one of the first people in the world to master an unfretted guitar, and he uses it mostly to make it more suitable for Turkish music. He also plays Kopuz (a small bağlama) Oud and some other instruments. Whenever I see his name in any musical work, I do not doubt that it is an original and true masterpiece, whatever genre it would be. You will feel like you are rediscovering the guitar when he plays it.
Anyway, I was talking about Janet & Jak Esim. It is calm, refreshing, and ethnic. By ethnic I mean music that geographically varies from Spain to Israel, including lyrics in Spanish, Hebrew, French and Turkish, and maybe more that I cannot recognize.
I don't know if their albums are available outside Turkey, but I know that they performed in many international festivals, especially Jewish and/or Sephardic ones. Search for them on the net, maybe you can find something. If not, I can share some "sample"s which are already available on the net.