ABSTRACT
A tangible example to convincingly flesh out the concept of folksongs of the post-tradition era as ruins, as a place inviting “visits” by tourists curious about the past of exotic cultures such as the Judeo-Spanish one, appeared as ripe fruit on my computer screen. Straight from the virtual tree that feeds us with relentless information appeared an advertisement for summer events of 2013 titled “Encuentros en la Judería de Toledo” (Encounters in the Jewish Quarter of Toledo) taking place at the Museo Sefardí (aka Sinagoga del Tránsito) of Toledo. This museum, perhaps one of the most celebrated and visited ruins of medieval Jewish culture in Spain, announced a “sonic garden.” This sound installation, which I visited in the summer of 2014, is intended
…to recreate the sounds of life in the narrow alleys of the ancient Jewish neighborhood of Toledo; with voices in Ladino, domestic sounds and publics surrounded by Sephardic melody, a promenade walk through the fourteenth- or fifteenth-century Jewish quarter of Toledo will be revived. 1
