Steve Homes and Monica Acosta
Photo: Robert Ruttenberg
Sephardic Songs
'Sephardic' (Hebrew for Spain) refers to the Jews who lived and flourished in the Iberian Peninsula for many centuries, until they were expelled along with the Muslims in 1492. Sephardic Jews took their language and musical traditions with them in to exile and absorbed other traditions from North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and countries in the Middle East where they settled. The lingua franca of Sephardic Jews was Judeo-Spanish which was based on mediaeval Castilian. The Ladino ballad repertoire was a very important song tradition transmitted through the female line.
Majo, Majo
Judeo-Spanish Text
Majo, Majo ,Majo agua en el mortero.
No hay quien se adjideye, de este forastero.
Acordravos dama de aquel pan y sal,
Que comimos djunto en un cabesal.
Y dizin ansí, yo ya me cansí,
Que de vuestro fuego yo ya me cansí.
English Translation
I grind water in the mortar.
Nobody has mercy on me. Me, the stranger.
Remember lady that bread and salt
That we ate together, on the same pillow.
So I say: I am tired.
I am tired of your fire.
for more sound samples click song's title:
Sound samples James Bull - Sound Engineer
