Category Archives: Arts and Culture

For Immediate Release

Contact: Victor Payan, Latino Audience Engagement Specialist, 714-567-3645, Vpayan@bowers.org

Bowers Presents Lecture on Sephardic Poetry and Music in Judeo-Spanish on Feb. 21

Author Jacobo Sefami and Singer Vanya Green To Share Bilingual Readings and Songs

Author and UCI Professor Dr. Jacobo Sefami will give a special presentation titled “POR MI BOKA: Sephardic poetry and music in Judeo-Spanish” at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana on Sunday, February 21 at 2pm. This special lecture and bilingual poetry reading will also feature a performance of traditional Sephardic songs in Ladino by Fulbright Scholar and certified music therapist Vanya Green.

Dr. Jacobo Sefami is the grandson of Sephardic Jews who emigrated to Mexico City from Turkey and Syria. He received his Licenciatura en Lengua y Literatura Hispánicas from UNAM, and his Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of Texas at Austin. He is Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Irvine and was the Editor of the academic journal Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos. His novel Los dolientes (translated and published in English as Mourning for Papá, A Story of a Syrian-Jewish Family in Mexico, 2010) explores the rituals of mourning in the context of Syrian Jews in Mexico City. He co-edited with Myriam Moscona Por mi boka (By My Mouth, 2013), a selection of texts in Judeo-Spanish. Continue reading→