Yitzhak (Isaac) Levy (; 15 May 1919 – 21 July 1977) was an Israeli singer-songwriter, musicologist and composer in Judaeo-Spanish. He also worked as director of a radio program and was an author of various works on musicology.
Biography Yitzhak Levy was born in Manisa, near İzmir, to a Sephardic Jewish family, and moved with his parents to Mandatory Palestine in 1922 at the age of three. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in Jerusalem (now the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance ) and in Tel Aviv at the Samuel Rubin Israel Academy of Music (now the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music), where he developed his baritone. Levy composed music for Biblical verses and piyyutim written by poets of the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, such as Judah Halevi, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Abraham ibn Ezra, and others.
In 1954 he founded a series of broadcasts in Judaeo-Spanish for the Israeli public radio, Kol Yisrael ("Voice of Israel"). With his wife Kohava Levy (born in 1946), Yitzhak Levy had four children, including Yasmin LevyLa pareja Kohava y Isaac Levy 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, ; 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
References
External links
The National Library of Israel. Bibliographie zu Yitzhak Isaac Levy The Second Half-Century of Sephardic Recordings. Las Notas de Matilda – Kantadores de la tradisión djudeo-espanyola: Kohava Levy enero 11th, 2011 BIBLIOGRAFÍA SEFARDÍ COMENTADA, criterios seguidos. Sefardiweb