“Mor’s voice fills the room. It's got a range and fluid flexibility……. It's rich and warm with a finely delivered emotional intensity. The Beauty and the Sea is a remarkable debut.” FRoots March 2008

Described by London’s Jewish Chronicle as a purveyor of “Spine tingling Gypsy Music”, young London-based Israeli singer Mor Karbasi sings in Ladino, Spanish, Hebrew and on rarer occasions, English. Fortune has brought her a wonderful singing voice to add to her classically trained piano playing..

Not many songs still survive from 1492, when the Ladino speaking Jewish population in Spain fled the Inquisition - only the most beautiful are kept over such a period. Mor is bringing some of these songs back to a wider public. Her writing has been considerably assisted by her interesting lineage. She is directly descended from both Moroccan and Persian Jews. She has been and indeed is, an avid supporter of Flamenco which provides a strong flavour throughout all her songs. Her early musical performances were with Pena Flamenca in Jerusalem which immersed her in Flamenco while her mother, Shoshana Karbasi, played Moroccan piyyutim (liturgical poems) and sang Andalucian Jewish ballads at their home. She continues to be a constant influence on her young daughter.

This heritage already made for an inspirational Middle Eastern melting pot, when Mor met British guitarist Joe Taylor three years ago who is now an important element in the artistic offering which is Mor Karbasi.

Joe is a gifted guitar player already recognised as such by Andy Macdonald, founder and owner of Independiente – label to acts such as Tinariwen, Travis and Joe’s band Blackbud. The Times, as well, are converts, their David Sinclair referred to Joe’s group as “stunningly inventive” and to Joe Taylor as “a guitarist with a quicksilver touch, an encyclopaedic knowledge of chords ….and an outstanding command of rhythmic and harmonic nuance.”

“Her songs are like a journey through her roots...traditional and modern at the same time, sincere, heartfelt and touching” SOAS.Co.UK

“Exploring an ancient musical songline that starts in medieval Spain and carries through to North Africa , Southern Europe and Israel.” Jewish Chronicle

Mor’s group performed the first WOMAD at Charlton Park in 2007 and BBC Radio 3 World Routes immediately broadcast three of her tunes alongside an interview with Lucy Duran, who proclaimed “Fantastic”. She appeared at Trafalgar Square London in an open air festival on October 14 as part of SIMCHA and in November appeared at WOMAD in Las Palmas.

Her debut album is released March 2008 with special guests Trilok Gurtu, Kai Eckhardt and Ronu Majumdar sown together by Grammy winning producer Matt Howe. Her fifteen show British tour offers audiences as disparate as The South Bank (April 29), Wychwood Festival (31 May), Larmer Tree Fetival (20 July) and WOMAD (25 July) the chance to see her.

Mor's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/morkarbasi