The July 6 edition of the Forward features a story about the increasing popularity of Ladino music, and how a new group of artists is “forging a global Sephardi culture.” One of the artists profiled, Ljuba Davis, actually has been performing the music of those Jews who trace their origins to Spain (in Hebrew, Sepharad) for more than 40 years. Her vocal artistry has finally been captured in recorded form on East and West (LDLEnsemble.com), with a strong group of supporting players on bouzouki, oud and Spanish guitar, and bluegrass ace Marty Confurius on string bass. An unusual feature of this 2-CD set is that one disc features Davis’ vocals, and the other has instrumentals and male vocal tracks for those Jews who follow the Jewish prohibition on men listening to female vocals (kol isha). — M.S.