Basic Definition: A Sephardi Jew is a Jew descended from, or who follows the customs and traditions followed by, Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and modern Spain), before their expulsion in the late 15th century.
fascinates Fatosh — Rebetiko diva Roza Eskenazi, born to an impoverished Jewish family in Constantinople who relocated to Thessaloniki at the turn of the Century. There, her career rocketed and she became an icon not only of the folk music she loved to sing, but also a beacon of women’s liberation, which bordered legend during the war, when she became a bit of a Greek Mata Hari. Frowned upon by her fellow Jews for her libertine lifestyle, which made her give up her son’s custody and flutter from lover to lover, she never disowned her roots, and was eventually lay to rest in an unmarked grave while clerics disputed her conversion to Greek Orthodox Christianity following her relationship with a married man called Christos. Roza’s story intrigues Fatosh, who sees in her the prototype of the artist who lives to perform: “I watched My Sweet Canary, Roy Sher ’s documentary about her screened last spring at the Instituto Cervantes. What struck me was how keen she was to sing even at a mature age.” Learning about an artist so committed to dedicating her whole life to what she loved and excelled at inspired Fatosh to park her professional background in finance and chase her dream of supporting the arts full time. A shift in career that has driven her to attend a couple of editions of WOMEX, the world music fair that showcases artists, venues and agents — and quickly make a name for herself and Gibraltar there. To the point that Gibraltar was short-listed to host a future edition. “I was surprised because I sort of expected the organisers to rule Gibraltar out because of its size, that may play to our advantage as much as disadvantage when it comes to logistics,” she says, “but I am pleased Gibraltar was deemed a suitable venue that can easily compare to the likes of Cardiff or Thessaloniki, where we
Fatosh with her partner Ian Delgado at Queenways Quay marina
photo: Gibraltar Productions
Gibraltar Productions is in fact managing Mor Karbasi, a Ladino singer / song writing Israeli rising star who ranks eighth in the worldwide listings for World Music artists. Mor is currently touring with her third studio album La Tsadika, produced and published by Gibraltar Productions, a feat Fatosh is very proud of, because it really sums up the spanning of Sephardic culture edge-to-edge across the Mediterranean. “This is hard work, as the big responsibility of landing her the right gigs to further her career falls on our shoulders, but it also comes with the big reward of watching her grow artistically, while she puts Gibraltar on the map, being associated with the Rock through us and the concerts she held at St. Michael’s Cave in June 2012 and 2013.” Fatosh extends the concept of ‘Sefarad’ to Berber culture too, historically interwoven with Jewish culture in the Maghreb: “I visited Tangier’s synagogue some time ago. I was shown a small chest containing the name tags of the deceased devotees who had attended religious services regularly in the past. “The place fell silent as we spared a thought for them, and about how everything is just transitory: those voices were no longer resounding between those walls, and their memory was kept alive only by visitors reading out their names on those tags. “Suddenly two birds flew in through a broken window and chirped loudly. It still gives me goose bumps when I tell this story, but the episode taught me that past, present and future are one and we have the duty to keep the memory alive, celebrate it and channel it to shape the future.” Eastbound, Sephardic tradition was pretty much alive along the African shore and stretched towards Israel of course, but also to Turkey and Greece. Until the first half of the 20th Century, when Jewish communities thrived alongside Muslims in the Ottoman Empire and the cultural exchanges were lively and fruitful for both. Here thrived a character who
Learning about an artist so committed to dedicating her whole life to what she loved inspired Fatosh to park her profession in finance and chase her dream of supporting the arts full time
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went last year and made priceless connections amongst international professionals, like the founders of WOMEX, and heads of other well established festivals.” Freshly back from Cardiff, Fatosh is not resting on her laurels. Preparations are well on the way for the third World Music Festival to be held in early June. This time even bigger and better, if possible, expanding to the Far East along the Silk Route. With Kurdish, Greek and Turkish blood running in her veins,
This is hard work... landing her the right gigs to further her career falls on our shoulders, but it also comes with the big reward of watching her grow artistically
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • JANUARY 2014
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Fatosh is a living gateway to Central Asia. Business brought her to the UK, and family to Gibraltar 10 years ago. What started as a short holiday to visit her sister, turned into permanent abode when she fell in love with the place and the people who reminded her of her native Cyprus: “I was born after the war that torn Cyprus between Greeks and Turks, and my parents chose to stay on the Turkish side, in Kyrenia.” She has been in touch with the flavours of Anatolia since her childhood, and now she is very proud of claiming that her partner, who is from Casablanca, praises her exotic cooking because it reminds him of his own grandmother ’s kitchen’s aromas. Sadly, an all-Med food festival is not on the menu (yet), but expect a big stir with a multi-artistic Sephardic extravaganza soon. n
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