Ashkenazi, a broad name for Eastern European Jewish culture, includes klezmer music, a style that uses acoustic instruments, including the violin, guitar, clarinet, cello or viola, cornet, accordion, and frame drum or wood block. Klezmer songs are often celebratory, and the lyrics are in the Yiddish language, a hybrid of Hebrew and Eastern European languages. Klezmer music is often joyous and inspires dancing, even among the musicians while they play. Ashkenazi music also includes a large body of simple Jewish folk songs, often based on scripture or stories with moral and ethical messages.
Mizrachi music is a fusion of Israeli music with that of the other Middle Eastern and Asian countries. The Arabic scale of Mizrachi music, along with prominent guitar, other stringed instruments, and Middle Eastern percussion, give it an unmistakably Middle Eastern sound. Mizrachi music is sung primarily in Hebrew with occasional Arabic.
Before the Spanish inquisition, Jewish culture thrived in the Mediterranean countries, and a new language, a mixture of Hebrew and Spanish, was born: Ladino. Sephardi song lyrics are Ladino, and the music itself has strong Mediterranean influences, including a musical scale unique to Spain. Sephardi music and its Ladino lyrics have enjoyed a revival since the 1990s as musicians worldwide have worked to bring both the music and language back from the threat of extinction.