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My Story

6 years ago I embarked on an unexpected journey following a song I rediscovered on the streets of Morocco. After a sold-out performance at the Tangier Jazz Festival I visited Fez, my grandma's hometown. She spoke Ladino but my father forbade us to speak to each other in any other language but Hebrew. Instead, she sang some songs in the kitchen, in this mysterious dialect no one could understand. I still remember peeling beans with her, listening to the fascinating rhythms and hope that one day I'll be able to sing them myself, as well as she did.
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Then 20 years later, hearing the same melody sung on the narrow streets of downtown Fez felt like a destined moment. As if I was meant to disconnect from my roots and rediscover them, when I was ready. A traditional Ladino melody was sung in Arabic, through the throats of a few hundred people on the square in front of Fez's blue gate and brought me back to my grandmother's kitchen.
Now this song is reawakening, as the 1st single of a new album of traditional Ladino songs titled "Andalusian Brew". The language of the Sephardic Jews from the North of Africa and the Iberian peninsula.

Short Bio

With a ship’s-horn power voice & irresistible stage presence, Eurovision winner Nani Vazana breathes life into the endangered Ladino Language. Nani learned Ladino from her Moroccan grandmother in hiding, as her father forbade the language at home. Her songwriting fuses Sephardic fairytales with contemporary storytelling and the sounds of the marketplace with Flamenco drama. Vazana’s new album Ke Haber was documented for the Library of Congress, ranked #11 on the International World Music Chart and #13 on World Music Chart Europe 2022. 

Bio

Nani Vazana is a millennial Ladino songwriter, she won the Eurovision for minority languages 2024 representing the Netherlands with her original song Una Segunda Piel (A Second Skin).

Described by BBC Radio 3 as a voice that “transports you from ancient markets to modern jazz clubs in one breath”, Vazana’s music breathes new life into Ladino—the nearly lost language of Sephardic Jews—through soulful vocals, flamenco-inspired melodies, and raw, contemporary storytelling.

 

Nani captures the spirit of the ancient, matriarchal Ladino language & propels it into the future w/ socially pertinent lyrics celebrating migration, gender & female empowerment. The soundscape captures the sounds & smells of the marketplace and fuses them with raw, flamenco like vocals, soft choral trombone, mariachi guitar & percussion & piano. 

 

Vazana’s music was documented for the Library of Congress USA and her album Ke Haber (What’s New) ranked #11 World Music Charts and #13 Music Charts Europe. She performed at the Montana Folk Festival USA, Richmond Folk Festival USA, Jazz in the Park fest RO and the Jodhpur RIFF festival IN, Kennedy Center USA, London Jazz Festival UK and TEDx Amsterdam. 

Milestones:

  • Winner – Eurovision for Minority Languages 2024
  • Library of Congress documentation 2023
  • PAIS Album Promotion Award, IL 2021
  • SENA Music Production Award, NL 2020
  • Arts Council England Premiere Award, UK 2019
  • Sephardic Music Award, ES 2017a

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