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| COPLAS DE MATESA - A Sephardic Tradition Admirerer's songs (or dating songs) were sung at a swing and were also known as "Coplas de Matesa" ("Swing Songs"). The girls gathered at places where there was a swing (at the playground or at the corner of the street) and swinged on turn while singing Romances. During these "gatherings" the young men passed by to look at the girls and to get to know them. If a young man had interest in one of the girls, he sang a verse which corresponded to his feelings. If the girl was interested and returned his feelings, she sang one of the so-called positive verses (Buenas Coplas) as an answer to her admirerer, but if she was not interested in his avances, she chose one of the negative verses (Malas Coplas) to show her disgust. These verses could be real mean! The verses were chosen from a larger collection in a song with 98 verses ("Eres chiquita y bonita") which covered all possible feelings. In this manner, song games were created with teasing musical dialogues, lead by a woman who was called the "Jotoba" (matchmaker). An example of the "Buenas coplas": Eres chiquita y bonita y eres como yo te quiero y eres campanita de oro en las manos de un platero You are small and sweet And you are the way I want you and you are a bell of gold in the hands of a goldsmith Cara de leche colada apetite de limon ya se que estas enfadada vengo a pedirte perdon Face of colada-milk apetite of lemon I know that you are angry I will ask you for forgiveness An example of the "Malas coplas": Eres tonto y eres loco y eres un ladron sin falta que robates a tu padre para jugar a las cartas You are stupid and you are crazy and you are with no doubt a thief who steals from your father to play card games Tienes la cara de pato y los oidos de carnero no te falta mas que un rabo para ser borrico entero You have the face of a duck and the ears of a ram you only need a tail to be a complete ass Source: Lotte Melchior, Sefardiske Sange, Copenhagen, 1993. The Romanza about the captive girl, express the emotions of the Sephadic Jews, after their expulsion from Spain. In fact, many of the Sephardic Romances refer to the sadness of living in the diaspora, using metaphors to describe their sorrow. Ya viene el cativo Con todas las cativas Dientro de ellas Esta la blanca nina The captive is coming With all the captive women Among them Is the white girl Ni amanecia Ni era de dia Cuando la blanca nina Cantava su manzia It was hardly dawn Nor daylight And the white girl Sang of her sorrow, thus: La Muchacha: Oh, que campos verdes Campos de olivas Onde mi madre Gracia Lavava y espandia The girl: Oh, what green fields Fields of olive trees Where my mother Gracia Washes and hung up clothes Oh, que pino hermoso Onde con mi espozo Baxo su solombra Dormiamos com gozo Oh, what beautiful pine trees Where, with my husband Under its shade We sleep with delight Oh, que tombas blancas Tombas de avuelos Paso sovre ellas Como paxaro en su vuelo Oh, what white tombs Tombs of our grandfathers I pass over them Like a bird in flight From: YA VIENE EL CATIVO, Isaac Levy, Chants Judeo Espagnols, World Sephardi Federation, London, p14. WEDDING SONG (Salonica) Mother, dear mother, if you love me true, Take my precious love with thee, and lead to the bath my bride-to-be; Wash her with little brushes three Wish musk-scented soap soap her for me In rose-water immerse her fully with a golden comb comb her hair for me From: Moshe Lazar, The Sephardic Tradition - Ladino and Spanish-Jewish Literature, New York, 1972. Other literature about Sephardic Romances: Samuel G. Armistead and Joseph H. Silverman: Folk literature of the Sephardic Jews Volume II - Judeo-Spanish Ballads from Oral Tradition, California 1986. Review: Armistead recorded 1485 texts, fragments and major contaminations of romances and analogous narrative songs; 720 from eastern traditions and 765 from North Africa. They were recorded from 164 eastern informants and 77 from North Africa. The book contains an analysis of elements of the Judeo-Spanish Ballads, and examples are accompagnied by transcriptions. "The traditional ballads of the Sephardic Jews have been viewed by many scholars primarily as precious medieval survivals. Their reasoning for that, since the Jews were exitled from Spain in 1492, they must have taken with them an essentially medieval ballads repetoire which, in the diaspora sommunities, had survived down to the present day" (Armistead 1986, p3). Nico Castel: The Nico Castel Ladino song book / arranged by Richard J. Neuman, Cedarhurst, N. Y., 1981 Review: This book renders many beautiful Ladino songs and their english translation. It also gives many references to other publications about Ladino songs (see last page). Sefardische liederen en balladen, romanzas door Chana Milner en Paul Storm, 's Gravenhage, Albersen, 1974. Sefardiske sange - sange i den spansk-joediske tradition Speciale af Lotte Melchior, Musikvidenskabeligt Institut, Koebenhavns Universitet, 1993. Terminology: CANCIONEROS means old orally remembered anthologies of songs, collected at the end of the 19th century. ROMANCEIROS are collections of romanzas and ballads (the first collection of romanzas was also called "cancioneros"...) ROMANZAS are romances and ballads CANTIGAS simply means songs CANCIONES are popular spanish songs Musiologists often mix up these expressions, as they presumably do not agree on their meaning. "romancero" is often used for old spanish romances (Melchior 1993, p7). |
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