Introduction

Julia León is a reseacher and singer with a long record as a collector of traditional folklore.  She has gathered more than two hundred songs, some of then previously unrecorded.

She was one of the founders of a musical movement, “Canción del pueblo” (Song of the People) in the Sixties. She has put into music poets such as García Lorca, Miguel Hernández, Pablo Neruda, Nicolas Guillén, Antonio Machado, and many more.  She has also written her own songs,  music and lyrics.

She has put into music the poets Spain’s  “Siglo de Oro” (Golden Century): Lope de Vega, Garcilaso de la Vega, Gutierre de Cetina, Luis de Góngora, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Francisco Quevedo, Calderón de la Barca, José Zorrilla, Cervantes, various anonimous authors and many more.

In the last ten years has turned to Sephardic music through direct sources: in Spain, the Jewish communities in Madrid and Valencia. In Israel, the family of  Isaac Leví, one of the foremost collectors of Sephardic music, plus the Universities of Jerusalem and Ramat Gan.

She has made recordings for Televisión Española and other TV stations in Spain, as well as for TV stations in the USA, the UK, Cuba, Germany and Italy. She has played countless times in many countries.