Fiddler Lily Henley brings Ladino music and storytelling to Pittsburgh

Lily Henley is treating Pittsburghers to an educating performance.

The Boston-based fiddler and graduate student, who often blends Sephardic Jewish music with Americana, will perform alongside fellow musician Ethan Setiawan on Dec. 13 at the Original Pittsburgh Winery. The Saturday evening show, presented by Calliope, a nonprofit arts organization, will blend storytelling and song while exploring Henley’s personal connection to Ladino.

Though the exact number of Ladino speakers is unknown, the Forward reported in 2021 that about 60,000 people speak the language often referred to as “Judeo-Spanish.”

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Ladino is “basically the language of the Sephardic Jewish people who came out of the Iberian Peninsula — Portugal and Spain — during the Inquisition,” Henley told the Chronicle by phone.

“It’s an Ottoman Jewish language based on old Spanish and Portuguese, but it has vocabulary and portions of a wide array of Ottoman languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, old French, old Italian, Bulgarian, Greek. So it really has bits of everywhere that Sephardic Jews have lived historically in the Ottoman Empire.”

Henley’s interests in Ladino expanded over time.

“I grew up singing in Ladino, and I definitely grew up hearing Ladino singers,” she said. “My mom cared about us being conscious of our Sephardic background, so we had a chunk of albums of Sephardic singers or well-known Ladino singers.”

Henley’s fascination with the language grew, as did her commitment to performance. As a child, Henley played fiddle all while moving “two dozen times before turning 20,” she said. Being able to play music that’s “grounded in both Sephardic music and American folk music” enables an authentic synergizing of her musical identity.

Adding to that identity are Henley’s academic interests. Along with completing a Fulbright scholarship in Paris and spending a year studying Ladino, she completed a master’s in ethnomusicology and focused on Ladino life cycle songs. Months ago, Henley began a doctoral program at Harvard University where she’ll continue studying ethnomusicology.

“There’s been all this deep diving that I’ve done as a scholar, and all of that has just fed into my work that I’ve been doing all my life as a musician,” she said.

Libraries and lecture halls differ from recording studios and stages; and though there’s a distinction between Henley’s pursuits she sees them as “two sides of a coin.”

“I’m first and foremost a musician, and I’m an entertainer, and I’ve been performing since I was a young teenager, and I have more than one musical influence,” she said. “But on the other side is my kind of scholarly work that I think feeds into the root of what I do as a musician.”

Henley showcased her influences and talents on the 2022 album “Oras Dezaoradas.” Translated as “Hours Without Hours” in Ladino, the 10-track album represented a collection of new Ladino songs “informed by the sounds of American string-band music” coupled with Sephardi influences.

While Henley will integrate similar sounds during her upcoming show, the infusion of stories and explanations should be enjoyable to “any lover of music,” she said.

Beyond mere entertainment there’s also an educational aim, she added. “I just hope that the music draws people in, the story draws people in, and that in the course of that, they’ll learn something about this endangered language and culture that they didn’t know before.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.