Ocho Kandelikas

This is the first song Flory wrote and it was destined to be her best-known and best-loved composition. The song has been widely recorded by such diverse performers as Pink Martini, Idina Menzel, and the United States Army Band. The strength of Flory’s contributions of holiday songs to the Sephardic repertoire cannot be over-stated. Jewish children growing up in the mid-1950s were taught some truly banal holiday songs, such as “Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,” “On this night, let us light,” and many more. “Ocho kandelikas” and her lesser-known song, “Hanuka, Hanuka,” and such songs as “Pesah ala Mano,” “Diya de Purim,” “Madam Gashpar,” and “Simhat Tora” have enriched the holiday repertoire immensely.

Flory, Trio Sefardi, and others have recorded these songs, and Susan’s online tutorial, “Sing Her Songs” makes four of them accessible to singers and communities worldwide. If you only know “Ocho,” we invite you to delve further into Flory’s trove of holiday songs. Over time Flory grew somewhat tired of performing this beloved song, but her audiences always loved singing it, and since Flory loved her audiences she never turned down a request to perform it, no matter what time of year it was.