From the recording Orijinal (En Bivo)
First recorded on Monastir (2020)
Some of my favorite moments as a songwriter happen long before I write a note of music. When I came across the extraordinary text of Espinelo, first printed in 16th-century Spain and preserved orally for centuries by the Jews of Monastir, I knew I had found a treasure. What survived were the words, a rich allegory for the Jewish exile from Spain. The melody had been lost.
That felt like an invitation. Composing a new melody for such an old text allowed me to become part of the ballad’s long history. In many ways, Espinelo brings this album full circle—a centuries-old Ladino story continuing the journey it began long ago.
Lyrics
Ladino:
Durmiendo s’istá Parizi
Dil isfueñu qui lu tumó.
La came tieni di colche,
Cuvierte tieni di graviyine.
Tres dames lu stá mirandu,
Laz mijoris di Turquíe.
La une li peine la barve,
La otre frescu li fazíe;
La mas chiquitique di eyes,
Las sudoris l’alimpiave.
Lu fueron a vijitar
Il moru di la muriríe;
-Di quen sos fiju, Spinerle,
Qui tan onre vus fazíe?
-Yo so fiju dil rey di Fransie
Y di la reine di Turquie.
Mi madre, cun grandi visiu
Mandó aprigunar un díe:
Tode mujer qui dos paríe,
Qui la yami Diligdoze.
Il Dió no quiju lu tuertu;
An eye li cayó la dizonre.
Tres dames lu stá mirandu…
Mi parió a mi y a mi Diligdoze,
Toduz dos in aqueye ore.
A mi Diligdoze la dio a criar
Y a mi m’ichó pur la mar fonde.
Mi parió a mi y a mi Diligdoze,
Toduz dos in aqueye ore.
Piscadoris qui staven piscandu,
Mi piscarun in aqueye ore.”
Si lu yivarun ondi il rey;
Si l’aprifirió pur fiju.
Lu mitierun in altes torris,
Maz altes qui une sivdad.
Tres dames lu stá mirandu…
English:
Paris is sleeping
From the deep sleep that came over him,
On a soft bed,
With a coverlet of carnations.
Three ladies watch over him,
The most elegant ladies of Turkey.
One is combing his beard,
The other is cooling him with a fan;
The youngest of them,
Is mopping his brow.
The Moorish king
Went to visit him:
“Who was your father, Espinelo,
Who honored you so?”
“I am the son of the King of France
And the Queen of Turkey.
My mother, with great pride
Published a proclamation:
‘Every woman who bore twins,
Was to be called an adulteress.’
God will not favor injustice;
The dishonor fell upon her.
Three ladies watch over him…
She gave birth to me and to Diligdoze,
Both at one time.
She had Diligdoze cared for
And threw me into the sea.
Fishermen who were fishing,
Saved me from the sea.”
They took him to the king;
He adopted him as his son.
They put him in the high towers,
The highest in the town.
Three ladies watch over him…