Espinelo from Monastir by Sarah Aroeste
This Ladino song, with lyrics tracing back to 1562 and with music composed by Sarah Aroeste, tells the epic tale of Espinelo, whose mother threw him into the ocean to avoid the scandal of having had twins (superstition held that a mother who birthed twins was an adulteress, having slept with two men). Fishermen rescued him and presented him to the child-less King who took him in and raised him to the highest ranks. In his new royal station, Espinelo was fawned over by the ladies of Turkey, an allegory for the Jews who were kicked out of Spain and found their salvation in the Turkish Empire.
Tracklist
| 8. | Espinelo | 4:43 |
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
Mando aprigunar un díe:
Tode mujer qui dos paríe,
Qui la yami Diligdoze.
Il Dió no quiju lu tuertu;
An eye li cayó la dizonre.
Mi parió a mi y a mi Diligdoze,
Toduz dos in aqueye ore.
A mi Diligdoze la dio a criar
Y a mi m’icho pur la mar fonde.
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,
Laz mijoris di Turquíe.
La une li peine la barve,
La otre frescu li fazíe;
La mas chiquitique di eyes,
Las sudoris l’alimpiave.
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.
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,
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.
Credits
Music: Sarah Aroeste, Lyrics: traditional (Ladino); featuring; Yehuda “Shuky” Shveiky
License
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
Sarah Aroeste is a singer, composer, author, and activist in the language of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), the language of her Sephardic ancestors. For two decades she has traveled the globe fusing original and 15th-century Ladino songs with her unique blend of mediterranean folk, pop and jazz.