Janet & Jak Esim Ensemble | Yo Era Ninya
A five-century-old Sephardic love song about betrayal became Istanbul's most haunting preservation of Ladino culture through a fretless guitar virtuoso and decades of archival obsession.
Story Behind “Yo Era Ninya”
Five Centuries in Four Minutes
“Yo era ninya de kaza alta.” I was a girl from a noble family.
That opening line carries weight beyond translation. The Spanish is frozen—not modern Spanish, but the language Sephardic Jews spoke when they were expelled from Spain in 1492. For five centuries, this romansa traveled from the Iberian Peninsula through the Ottoman Empire, passed down through generations in Istanbul’s Jewish quarter, waiting for someone to capture it before it disappeared forever.
By 1996, Jak Esim had spent decades hunting these songs. He’d visited elderly patients in Jewish retirement homes and hospitals, recording voices that remembered melodies their grandparents sang. He’d built what he believed was the world’s most comprehensive archive of Judeo-Spanish folk music—songs in a language spoken by fewer than 17,000 people in Istanbul, a language slipping toward extinction with every passing generation.
“Yo Era Ninya” appears on Birkaç Sonsuzluk Anı (A Few Moments of Eternity), released December 24, 1996, on Kalan Müzik. The album title captures exactly what Jak and his wife Janet were trying to preserve: fleeting moments of a culture that once flourished across the Mediterranean.
When the Fretless Guitar Inventor Met History
For “Yo Era Ninya,” Jak Esim brought in Erkan Oğur—the musician who invented the fretless classical guitar in 1976 because conventional frets couldn’t capture Turkish melodies’ microtonal nuances. Oğur had studied physics in Munich before choosing music, modifying his guitar to create sounds that could bridge Turkish makam music and Western instruments.
Alongside Oğur came Okay Temiz, the legendary percussionist who’d worked with Don Cherry and pioneered Turkish fusion jazz. Temiz built his own instruments—hand-beaten copper drums, the Artemiz made from camel and sheep bells—creating sounds no conventional percussion could replicate.
These weren’t random session musicians. Esim assembled artists who understood what it meant to preserve something while letting it breathe.
“Yo Era Ninya” Recording and Production Details
Arranging a Song That Refused to Die
“Yo Era Ninya” runs 5:34—unusually long for a traditional folk song. That length reflects Jak Esim’s arrangement philosophy. Rather than presenting these romansas as museum pieces, he and Oğur created space for the music to unfold naturally, allowing Oğur’s fretless guitar to explore the melodic possibilities hidden in centuries-old melodies.
The song sits in B Minor, moving at 101 BPM—Andante, walking pace. That tempo choice matters. This isn’t a lament frozen in time; it’s a story being told, one measured step after another. Janet Esim’s vocals carry the narrative while Jak’s guitar provides harmonic foundation, but Oğur’s fretless work gives the track its distinctive character.
Without frets limiting note placement, Oğur could slide between pitches the way traditional Middle Eastern instruments do—capturing quarter-tones and microtonal inflections that make Turkish and Arabic music sound fundamentally different from Western traditions. For a Ladino song sung in Spanish but preserved by Turkish Jews, that sonic bridge felt essential.
The Kalan Müzik Sessions
Kalan Müzik, the Istanbul label that released Birkaç Sonsuzluk Anı, specialized in preserving Turkey’s diverse musical heritage. By 1996, they’d become essential to documenting traditions threatened by modernization and emigration.
The production kept things intimate. Track 13 of 14 on the album, “Yo Era Ninya” benefits from stripped-down arrangements—vocals, guitars, percussion, nothing competing for attention. Okay Temiz’s percussion work adds rhythmic complexity without overwhelming Janet’s voice or the song’s emotional core.
The recording captured something critics described as having an “ancient melancholy”—not sadness exactly, but the weight of history, of songs that survived five centuries and multiple continents to reach these microphones.
Notes About “Yo Era Ninya” by Janet & Jak Esim Ensemble
Release Date: December 24, 1996
Duration: 5:34
Genre: Ladino Folk / Sephardic Music / World Music
Album: Birkaç Sonsuzluk Anı (A Few Moments of Eternity) - track 13 of 14
Label: Kalan Ses Görüntü (Kalan Müzik)
Language: Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
Key: B Minor
Tempo: 101 BPM (Andante - walking pace)
Time Signature: 4/4
Arranged By: Erkan Oğur, Jak Esim
Song Origin: Traditional Sephardic romansa (love ballad)
Later Releases: Also appears on Sefardim (2021 reissue) and Antik Bir Hüzün - Judeo-Espanyol Ezgiler (2005)
Janet & Jak Esim Ensemble “Yo Era Ninya” Era Details
Album Context: Birkaç Sonsuzluk Anı (A Few Moments of Eternity)
Release Date: December 24, 1996
Label: Kalan Ses Görüntü
Total Tracks: 14
Concept: Collection of Ladino romansas and Sephardic songs from Istanbul’s Jewish community
Recorded: Istanbul, Turkey
Language: Primarily Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
Musical Approach: Traditional songs with contemporary arrangements blending Turkish and Western instruments
Band Members/Personnel
Janet Esim - Lead Vocals
Jak Esim - Vocals, Guitar, Arrangements, Archive Research
Erkan Oğur - Fretless Classical Guitar (inventor of instrument, 1976)
Okay Temiz - Percussion (legendary Turkish fusion jazz drummer)
Additional Musicians: Various traditional Turkish instrumentalists
Cultural Context
Istanbul’s Sephardic Jewish Population (1996): Approximately 17,000
Ladino Language: Spanish dialect frozen since 1492 Alhambra Decree
Historical Background: Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain 1492, invited to Ottoman Empire by Sultan
Archive Significance: Jak Esim’s collection (1960-2005) added to National Sound Archives of The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem
Cultural Preservation: Music seen as primary method for preserving disappearing Ladino language and culture
Janet & Jak Esim Ensemble Background
Formed: 1989
Based: Istanbul, Turkey
Mission: Preserving Judeo-Spanish folk music through performance and documentation
Research Method: Jak Esim collected songs from elderly community members in retirement homes, hospitals, neighborhoods
Performance History: Toured Europe performing Sephardic music, signed to independent folk labels
International Recognition: Performed with Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, participated in “The Keys of Toledo” project
Key Collaborators
Erkan Oğur (born April 17, 1954): Invented fretless classical guitar 1976, studied physics before choosing music, master of kopuz and bağlama lutes, worked with Don Cherry
Okay Temiz (born February 11, 1939): Turkish fusion jazz percussion icon, worked with Don Cherry, Dexter Gordon, George Russell, performed 3,000+ concerts worldwide, inventor of custom percussion instruments
Interesting Facts About “Yo Era Ninya”
The Girl from the Noble House Who Lost Everything
“Yo era ninya de kaza alta / No savia de sufrir / Por kaer kon ti berbante / Me metites a servir.”
Translation: “I was a girl from a noble family / I didn’t know suffering / For falling with you, scoundrel / You made me serve.”
This romansa tells a story Sephardic communities knew well—social fall, betrayal, the gap between promise and reality. A girl from an upper-class family falls for the wrong man (a “berbante”—scoundrel, rogue) and ends up in servitude. Whether that servitude is literal domestic work or metaphorical emotional slavery, the song leaves ambiguous.
These romansas functioned as warnings, as entertainment, as shared cultural memory. Mothers sang them to daughters. The melodies carried moral weight without preaching. Five hundred years after the Spanish expulsion, these songs still resonated because the themes—love, betrayal, loss of status—remained universal.
Jak Esim collected this particular version from Istanbul’s Sephardic community, though variations exist across the Mediterranean. Different communities added verses, changed melodies slightly, adapted the Spanish to include Turkish words. The version on Birkaç Sonsuzluk Anı represents Istanbul’s specific preservation of the tradition.
The Archive That Saved a Language Through Song
By the 1990s, Ladino faced extinction. The generation that spoke it fluently as a first language was disappearing. Younger Turkish Jews spoke Turkish at home, Hebrew in synagogue, English for business. Ladino became the language of grandparents, of old songs half-remembered.
Jak Esim witnessed this decline firsthand. Starting in the 1960s, he began systematic documentation—visiting Jewish retirement homes and hospitals, recording elderly patients singing songs they’d learned as children. He collected from neighbors, from his own family, building what became recognized as the world’s foremost Sephardic music archive.
His approach differed from academic ethnomusicologists. Esim wasn’t just documenting; he was preserving through performance. He and Janet formed their ensemble in 1989, performing these songs at festivals across Europe, proving that Ladino music could still move audiences who’d never heard the language before.
The archive eventually went to the National Sound Archives of The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem—ensuring that even if Ladino stopped being spoken, the songs would survive. When “Yo Era Ninya” plays, you’re hearing more than a traditional arrangement. You’re hearing the result of decades spent chasing voices before they fell silent forever.
Common Questions
Q: What language is “Yo Era Ninya” sung in? A: “Yo Era Ninya” is sung in Ladino, also called Judeo-Spanish. Ladino is a dialect of Spanish frozen in time from 1492, when Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain. Over centuries in the Ottoman Empire, the language absorbed Turkish words while preserving 15th-century Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation.
Q: What does “Yo Era Ninya” mean and what is the song about? A: The title translates as “I Was a Girl.” The song tells the story of a young woman from a noble family (”de kaza alta”) who falls in love with a scoundrel (”berbante”) and ends up in servitude as a result. It’s a traditional Sephardic romansa (love ballad) warning about the consequences of poor romantic choices.
Q: Who are Janet & Jak Esim Ensemble? A: Janet and Jak Esim are a husband-wife duo from Istanbul who have dedicated their careers to preserving Ladino music. Jak Esim (born 1976) spent decades collecting songs from Istanbul’s Sephardic Jewish community, building what’s considered the world’s most comprehensive archive of Judeo-Spanish folk music. They formed their ensemble in 1989 and have released multiple albums documenting this endangered musical tradition.
Q: What is a fretless guitar and why does it matter for this song? A: A fretless guitar removes the metal frets from the neck, allowing the player to slide between notes and play microtones (notes between the standard Western scale). Erkan Oğur invented the fretless classical guitar in 1976 specifically to capture Turkish melodies’ microtonal nuances. For “Yo Era Ninya,” this allows the arrangement to bridge Spanish melodic tradition with Turkish musical sensibilities—perfect for a song preserved by Turkish Jews.
Q: Why is preserving Ladino music important? A: Ladino is a severely endangered language with only about 17,000 speakers remaining in Istanbul (1996 figures) and declining numbers worldwide. As the generation of native speakers dies, the language faces extinction. Jak Esim recognized that folk songs offered the best method for language preservation—melodies make memorization easier and emotional connections stronger than academic study alone could provide.