Ladino Lives!
The Elias Ladino Ensemble released Ladino Lives! on CD in 1999. On it Joe Elias sings seventeen Sephardic songs in Ladino, with his son, Daniel Elias, on clarinet and vocals.
The songs come from the Sephardic communities of the Ottoman Empire: love songs, wedding songs, “Avram Avino,” and Greek and Turkish dance tunes, played on oud, kanun, bouzouki, clarinet, guitar and dumbeg.
Joe learned several of them from his mother, Sarah “Shorty” Elias, among them “Vate, Vate” and “Hija ke Yo Amo.” The full album can be heard at the Recorded Sound Archives of Florida Atlantic University Libraries.
Joe Elias, vocals and guitar; Daniel Elias, vocals and clarinet; Scott Wilson, oud and kanun; Richard Khuzami, dumbeg; George Vikos, bouzouki; Maurice Sedacca, guitar.
The songs
1
Puncha, Puncha
4:44
2
Di Me
2:36
3
La Komida
3:16
4
Avrime Galanika
2:22
5
Me Siento Alegre
3:00
6
Avram Avino
3:54
7
Kaminando por la Plaza
1:40
8
Ah Sarika Bre
4:06
9
La Sirena
2:47
10
Nehevant Longa
2:42
11
Hija ke Yo Amo
3:02
12
Streya Biva
1:24
13
A la Una Nasi Yo
3:01
14
Vate, Vate
4:59
15
Samiotisas
1:22
16
Skalerika de Oro
3:05
17
Ven Hermosa
1:54
Other recordings
Semana Sepharad Live
Twelve songs recorded live at Yeshiva University’s Semana Sefarad, where the ensemble was the house band for many years. Released on cassette.
The Joe Elias Collection
Home recordings on reel-to-reel tape and cassette, among them Joe’s mother, Sarah “Shorty” Elias, singing. Daniel Elias shared them with the Jewish Music Research Centre at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In Good Faith, 1984
A radio program on up-and-coming Jewish artists, with Joe and Daniel Elias and Henry Sapoznik.