Album Notes

With Ancestral roots in Spain and Greece, American-born Sarah Aroeste has worked to reinvent Ladino and Sephardic music. The Sarah Aroeste Band is known for its style of mixing traditional Ladino songs with rock, funk, jazz and blues. Combining Sephardic folksongs from around the Mediterranean with contemporary sounds, their second album, Puertas, presents an updated take on traditional Ladino songs. With 10 tracks on Puertas ranging in sounds from funky pop beats, to flamenco-style strumming, hard electric rock riffs and driven Middle Eastern rhythms, “Puertas” is truly a unique blend of what is traditional and new in Sephardic music.

Aroeste is joined on this album by Yoel Ben-Simhon (piano, oud, acoustic guitar, back-up vocals), Yaron Eilam (electric guitar), Emmanuel Mann (bass), Liron Peled (drums, percussion) and special guests Frank London (trumpet), Tamir Muskat (remix engineer), Dan Nadel (flamenco guitar), Harel Shachal (G-clarinet) and more...

"Ethnic eclecticism from a sultry warbler of Greek ancestry...(Shakira eat your heart out!)" -Village Voice

"The [Sarah Aroeste] band’s sophomore album, “Puertas,” is an argument about Ladino music’s future...The marriage of Ladino lyrics to [a] modern sensibility drives the album forward — showing that the past can not only infiltrate, but also add meaning to the present...thrilling new album."
-The Forward, July 31, 2007

"The [Sarah Aroeste Band] takes traditional Ladino tunes and updates them with loads of New York sass and edgy attitude."
-The Jerusalem Post, Dec 2, 2008