The setting and the symbolism seemed perfect. Momo's is surely the classiest (and most expensive) North African bar in London, and it was both brave and appropriate that a young Israeli singer should be performing among the Arabic signs and camel motifs, especially as her music is a reminder that there was a time and a place when both groups lived together in harmony. Yasmin Levy specialises in Sephardic styles and the Judeo-Spanish music of the Jews who once lived alongside Muslims in Spain. Backed by musicians from Turkey, Armenia, Portugal and an impressive flamenco guitarist from Israel, she uses music as a reminder of a historical unity.

Tonight, Levy looked tremendous, a glamorous, black-haired singer against the stone walls and arches of the bar. But there was a problem: music as intense as this demands attention. It was difficult to concentrate on her passionate, emotional and often tragic songs of love or homelessness when there was a constant clatter of glasses from the bar, a few feet away. The world music scene has produced an impressive array of female singers in recent years, from Mariza to Souad Massi, and Levy has the potential to join them. This was not the way to promote her.

Still, she deserved credit for trying. "Close your eyesa" she said, as the lights were dimmed for another love ballad and another ice bucket rattled at the bar. Undeterred, she switched from Sephardic love ballads to flamenco and Gypsy songs, with her band helped by some fine violin work from Sophie Solomon, formerly with Oi Va Voi.

At the end, Levy asked the packed crowd to dance, when there was scarcely room to move. She is about to play New York's Carnegie Hall. There, I trust, she will be heard in silence.