Logo

Description

A Sephardic love song of exceptional rarity and near obscurity. It belongs to the very small corpus of Sephardic songs that refer to a specific urban landmark, the White Tower of Thessaloniki, thereby anchoring the song both geographically and emotionally within the city’s cultural landscape. The song survives in a single known recording, collected by Moshe Saul and preserved in the archive of the Maale Adumim Institute.

1

Version 1

El preso de la torre blanka

Maale Adumim Institute Database, Catalogue number: 1771 http://folkmasa.org/avshir/shirp.php?mishtane=177 Performed by Estrea Aelion from Thessaloniki.

Lyrics

La torre entera rodei, non te vido a l'almena la ˈto.re enˈte.ra roˈðej non te ˈvi.ðo a lalˈme.na The whole tower turns around; I did not see you at its base.

Ke sepas Natan Geledi, ke yo m'arranki entera. ke ˈse.pas naˈtan ɡeˈle.di ke ʝo maˈran.ki enˈte.ra Know this, Natan Geledi, that I was uprooted completely.

Kurri, kurri ande el pasha a ver si te kitava. ˈku.ri ˈku.ri anˈde el paˈʃa a ˈver si te kiˈta.va Run, run to the pasha to see whether he will get rid of you.

El ferman yo senti meldar kinze anyos en la pranga. el feɾˈman ʝo senˈti melˈðar ˈkin.ze ˈa.ɲos en la ˈpɾaŋ.ɡa I heard the decree: fifteen years in prison.

Ke matates un kasapchi enfrente de mi kaza. ke maˈta.tes un kasaˈptʃi enˈfɾen.te de mi ˈka.sa Because you killed a butcher in front of my house.

Dime tu, luna de Pichon, dime si estas prenyada. ˈdi.me tu ˈlu.na de piˈtʃon ˈdi.me si esˈtas preˈɲaða –Tell me, moon of the Dove, tell me if you are pregnant.

Prenyada, Natan Geledi, ke non durmo en la kama. preˈɲa.da naˈtan ɡe.leˈdi ke non ˈduɾ.mo en la ˈka.ma –Pregnant, Natan Geledi, for I do not sleep in my bed.

Un plazer te va demandar, kero ke me lo agas. un plaˈzeɾ te va deˈman.daɾ ˈke.ɾo ke me lo ˈa.ɣas –I want to ask you a favor, that you grant it to me.

Si vas a parir un ijo, Nataniko lo yamas. si vas a paˈɾiɾ un iʒo na.taˈni.ko lo ʝaˈmas If you give birth to a son, name him Nathaniko.

Music Guide

sheet
usersBibliography

Research, analysis, translations and IPA transcriptions: Mariangela Chatzistamatiou Aural transcriptions and lead sheets: Nikos Panagiotides

Disclaimer: The content on this website is protected by copyright. Use of the content is allowed for personal or educational purposes only with clear citation of the source. Republishing, modifying, or using the content for commercial purposes is prohibited without prior explicit permission.