The Parenting Panel with Sarah Aroeste
Determined to help bring Ladino culture to a new generation, Sarah Aroeste, an international Ladino singer/songwriter, author and activist, draws upon her Sephardic family roots from Macedonia and Greece to present traditional and original Ladino songs with her unique blend of Balkan sounds, pop, and jazz. Since 2001, Aroeste has toured the globe and recorded seven albums, A la Una: In the Beginning (2003), Puertas (2007), Gracia (2012), Ora de Despertar (2016), the first-ever all-original Ladino children’s album, Together/Endjuntos (2017), the first bilingual Ladino/English holiday album, the award-winning Monastir (2021) and the soon-to-be-released Hanuká! (2021). In 2014 Aroeste won the Sephardic prize at the International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam, and in 2015 she represented the USA in the International Sephardic Music Festival in Cordoba, Spain. In addition to composing music, Aroeste has published numerous articles and essays about Sephardic cultural preservation, and pens Sephardic-themed books for children. Her most recent book, Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom (Kar-Ben and PJ Library), was published March 2020. Bringing Ladino words and music to young and old, Aroeste has garnered wide critical acclaim for her efforts to introduce Sephardic culture to wider audiences.
For more: www.saraharoeste.com
You can find her new album, Hanuká! here: https://saraharoeste.com/hanuka-2021
You can find a video for Hanuká! here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG_62IAlhRs
Without further ado, let’s get to the Parenting Panel:
How many children do you have? And what are their names and ages?
I have two daughters: Dalia age 6, and Irit age 8.
Did you have fears or concerns about how becoming a parent would interfere with your artistic endeavors?
For sure! I waited as long as I could to have children. It was never on my radar while I was building up my career. I love touring, and I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to once I had kids. Of course, I was wrong!
Have those fears come true, or no?
I have been so surprised by my artistic output ever since I had children. I’ve written and recorded more, and even toured more, than I ever did before kids.
In what ways has parenthood helped your creativity, if any?
My kids definitely inspire me artistically. Up until my first daughter was born, I was writing and performing only for adult audiences. But something changed when I became pregnant, as people were sending me children’s albums to get ready for my new addition. None of the albums did it for me, so I decided to write my own! The success of that record opened up a whole new door for me creatively- I was asked to write more family music and even children’s books. And I found that I loved it! I wasn’t switching from my career path, but I found that being able to incorporate my kids and family in my music actually complemented and enhanced it.
What has parenthood taught you about yourself, your music, or your creative process?
Inspiration comes in the most unlikely of places! I look at the wonder my kids have, especially of the natural world around them and I’m constantly inspired. I once wrote a song using the rhythm of one of my daughters’ feet as she toddled barefoot for the first time on grass. She was exploring our backyard and looking at the leaves and trees, and I used the syncopation of her footsteps to compose a song about a child’s love of nature. I’ve just learned watching them grow to be ready to write down a song idea anywhere and anytime! (Song link is here if you want it: https://youtu.be/UDIWqmmU5D4 )
But beyond writing specific songs geared towards kids and families, I recognize that my work has a larger meaning given the language in which I compose. I work in a language called Ladino, which is on the brink of extinction. Ladino is the Sephardic language of my family- it’s a Judeo-Spanish dialect that Jews spoke after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. It’s still spoken today! But it is in major decline. So as one of the few songwriters and performers in this language, it’s so important to me, as a mother, to think about how my work will live on in future generations. I can’t let my family culture die out. It’s not just relevant to my own children, but to many other families around the world. It’s a profound responsibility that I didn’t think fully about until I had my own kids. Now, after having just released my 7 the album – an all-Ladino Hanuká album - I’m very conscious about how young and old will take in my work.
How do you juggle your family and your career? Who’s your support system?
I am so lucky to have a partner who is exceptionally supportive of my work. He encourages me to tour and show our daughters what a mother looks like who is happy in her career. He never wanted me to stop producing and touring. In fact, the only thing he asked of me when I got pregnant was to stop riding motorcycles!
Has the pandemic taken away or added to your creative flow? Are you taking good care of yourself these days?
I was right in the middle of an international recording project when the pandemic hit. I was on tour in Europe when the borders started shutting down. My poor husband – home with the kids- was frantically trying to get me home. Of course, I wanted to stay and finish my tour! Very few people knew then (except maybe my husband?) how dire things would become so quickly. I ended up coming back earlier than I wanted, but now, obviously I’m grateful!
I was devastated at first that my calendar got wiped out over night, but then it gave me the opportunity to slow down and dig deeper into the music project I was in the middle of writing. The album turned out so much better for it. I took my time and engaged artists in several countries that I never would have been able to work with had it not been for the pandemic. Many of my global music friends were just sitting at home desperate to create, and I so actually lucked out in many ways. And then the floodgates just opened. I realized that I could record great music remotely – and I couldn’t stop myself! This past year I released not just one, but two albums that I wrote in the past year. I just couldn’t stem the creative flow!
What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you became a parent? Any advice for others?
You don’t need to change your life for your kids. In fact, they will grow to appreciate and respect you if you’re happy and doing what you love. At least, this is what I tell myself every time I leave my family to go on tour!
Have you ever written a song for or about your kids?
I wrote an entire children’s album, Ora de Despertar – Time to Wake Up! (2016), inspired by my kids. I started writing it while pregnant with my first daughter, and then I recorded it while pregnant with the second! The peppy title track is literally about the rituals kids go through when they wake up in the morning. But for adults, the song has a much larger meaning. It’s time to wake up- we need to teach our children our family histories and traditions (in my case, the Sephardic language of Ladino) – before it’s too late. This album was a love song to my kids but also an expression of my fervent wish that they grow up to know how special their history is. Of course, I tried to do that by writing super catchy, silly, songs at the same time! All the songs were turned into animated videos you can see here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBzSsNkQMiO5vX7g1oUUBYiET4ySmlnku
How have you been managing parenting during the pandemic? What has been the hardest part and what is the silver lining?
The first part of the pandemic, as for so many, was truly awful. There were many moments I hid in the closet crying. As a touring artist, I saw my calendar wiped out and all my plans dashed for the next year. Suddenly, I was a home-schooling mother to two young kids! My artistic identity was totally quashed. But then I leaned into it and just tried to be as present for my children as I could. I realized what a blessing it was to see them learn and grow each day- an opportunity so few parents get with small kids. It was exhausting and frustrating, but also undeniably beautiful. Luckily, my kids were young enough at the start of 2020 that the past 18 months haven’t scarred them- and somehow, we all pulled through it and even thrived because of that time together. And I got to test out a lot of new music on them when we couldn’t leave the house!
Find Sarah Aroeste via:
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