The Three Main Streams

Following the exile, according to geographical settlements, Jews formed three main branches: Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi.

Roughly they are located as follows: Ashkenazi in Eastern and Western Europe, the Balkans, (to a lesser extend) in Turkey and Greece; Sephardi in Spain, Maroc, North Africa and later in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey); Mizrahi in Lebanon, Syria, East Asia, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt.

The music of those communities naturally entered into contact with local ones and evolved accordingly.