Yitzhak (Isaac) Levy (; 15 May 1919 – 21 July 1977) was an Israeli singer-songwriter, musicologist and composer in

Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: ), also known as Ladino or Judezmo or Spaniolit, is a Romance language derived from Castilian Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading ...

. He also worked as director of a radio program and was an author of various works on

musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

Biography

Yitzhak Levy was born in Manisa, near

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, to a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

family, and moved with his parents to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

in 1922 at the age of three. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in Jerusalem (now the

Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (), is a school for the music and the performing arts in Jerusalem. It is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. History The Jerusalem Conservatory of Music was founded in ...

) and in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

at the Samuel Rubin Israel Academy of Music (now the

Buchmann-Mehta School of Music The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (BMSM) is an institute of higher education in Tel Aviv, Israel. The school is a part of the Faculty of the Arts of Tel Aviv University and is operated in collaboration with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). ...

), where he developed his baritone. Levy composed music for Biblical verses and

piyyut A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim, ; from ) is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and most follow some p ...

im written by poets of the golden age of Jewish culture in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, such as

Judah Halevi Judah haLevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; ; ; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets and is celebrated for his secular and religious poems, many of whic ...

Solomon ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...

Abraham ibn Ezra Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...

, and others. In 1954 he founded a series of broadcasts in Judaeo-Spanish for the Israeli public radio,

Kol Yisrael ''Kol Yisrael'' or ''Kol Israel'' (, lit. "Voice of Israel"; also Israel Radio) was Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, and later the Israel ...

("Voice of Israel"). With his wife Kohava Levy (born in 1946), Yitzhak Levy had four children, including

Yasmin Levy Yasmin Levy (; born 23 December 1975) is a singer and songwriter of Judeo-Spanish music. Biography Yasmin Levy was born on 23 December 1975. She is of Sephardic Jewish descent. Her parents were immigrants to Israel from Turkey. Her father, ...

who continues his musical tradition. Kohava Levy is also a singer of Sephardic songs and is a skilled interpreter of Sephardic music. In 1963 he was nominated as director of the section of ethnic music of Kol Yisrael.

Bibliography

* ''Yitzhak Levy Cante Judeo-Español.'' (Yitzhak Levy Sings, Judeo-Spanish) Association Vidas Largas, Paris 1980 * ''Chants judéo-espagnols.'' (Judeo-Spanish Songs) vol. I, London, World Sephardi Federation,

959 Year 959 ( CMLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * April - May – The Byzantines refuse to pay the yearly tribute. A Hungarian army, led by Apor, invades Mace ...

vols. II, Jerusalem, author, 1970; vol. III, Jerusalem, author, 1971; vol. IV, Jerusalem, author, 1973. Ver * ''Antología de Liturgia Judeo-Española.'' (Anthology of Judeo-Spanish Liturgy) vols. I-VIII, Jerusalem, author-Ministry of Education and Culture, s.a.; vol. IX, id., 1977; vol. X, written by Moshe Giora Elimelekh, Jerusalem, Institute of Studies of Judeo-Spanish Songs, 1980BIBLIOGRAFÍA SEFARDÍ COMENTADA. Sefardiweb
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References

External links

The National Library of Israel. Bibliographie zu Yitzhak Isaac Levy

Las Notas de Matilda – Kantadores de la tradisión djudeo-espanyola: Kohava Levy enero 11th, 2011

BIBLIOGRAFÍA SEFARDÍ COMENTADA, criterios seguidos. Sefardiweb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Yitzhak Isaac Israeli musicologists Israeli composers 1919 births 1977 deaths Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli people of Turkish-Jewish descent Jewish singers Judaeo-Spanish-language singers Musicians from Jerusalem 20th-century Israeli male singers Turkish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Spanish-language singers of Israel