Romanza (Sephardic music)

The romanza or romanca is a variant of the medieval Spanish musical romance or ballad which is one of the two main genres of Sephardic music. The text consists of 16-syllable verses, each one divided in the middle into a pair of isometric hemistiches of 8 syllables by a cesura.^[1]

References

^ Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Romanza "The themes of the Sephardic romances reflect the Hispanic heritage, carried and preserved in the communities of the former Ottoman area and in Northern Morocco. The musical style reflects the musical culture of the peoples among whom the Jews lived, including the Turkish makamlar, Berber and Balkan rhythms and European influences. The romance is usually performed as a woman solo song and is mostly used as a lullaby. Very few romances are also for the year and life cycles. "

[1] Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Romanza "The themes of the Sephardic romances reflect the Hispanic heritage, carried and preserved in the communities of the former Ottoman area and in Northern Morocco. The musical style reflects the musical culture of the peoples among whom the Jews lived, including the Turkish makamlar, Berber and Balkan rhythms and European influences. The romance is usually performed as a woman solo song and is mostly used as a lullaby. Very few romances are also for the year and life cycles. "

[1]